“Genworth Says It Needs $6 Billion in Additional LTCI Rate Hikes,” by Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor “Executives from Genworth Financial Inc. said Wednesday that the company’s Genworth Life Insurance Company (GLIC) unit could see its solvency level deteriorate if state insurance regulators fail to approve $6 billion in additional long-term care insurance (LTCI) rate increases.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): When will we see a similar announcement from the biggest (social) insurance carrier? To wit: “Executives from the U.S. Government said Social Security and Medicare solvency will collapse without massive payroll deduction increases.” Don’t hold
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“Washington Becomes First State to Approve Publicly Funded Long-Term Care,” by Rachel M. Cohen, The Intercept “The ultimate goal, advocates say, is some kind of universal family care, a comprehensive social infrastructure to support all the varied costs of care work from birth to death. ‘That’s our North Star,’ said Sarita Gupta, co-director of Caring Across Generations, a national campaign that launched in 2011. ‘We have really been trying to help people go from seeing care work as an individual burden to a shared responsibility that we’re all going to face.’” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for
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“Is most home care paid by government programs?,” by Yanqui Xu, PolitiFact “For the aging and those with long-term care needs, receiving care at home is more affordable than institutionalized facilities like hospitals or nursing homes. But presidential candidate John Delaney argued on Twitter that even with jobs growing in the home care industry, workers are struggling with low wages because ‘most of home care is paid by government programs, which don’t pay enough.’ Is home care really funded mostly by government programs? We decided to check. … Long-term unskilled care at home is paid for by out-of-pocket private payers,
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“In 10 Years, Half Of Middle-Income Elders Won’t Be Able To Afford Housing, Medical Care,” by Virginia Knight, Kaiser Health News “The study suggests that policymakers could expand Medicare benefits to include access to a wider range of supportive services, or create a new benefit, ‘Medicare Part E,’ that funds long-term care. However, other attempts to set up such a program have run into resistance among lawmakers because of cost. While Medicaid is the primary payer of long-term nursing home care, right now the program is available only to low-income seniors. Seniors may become eligible if they impoverish themselves. However,
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