“This article is the first of a two-part series in which we’ll explore some of the key findings from our new study. We will describe the hopes, dreams, worries, and priorities of Americans with regard to their finances in the years leading up to and through retirement. Tomorrow we’ll turn the corner to describe a wide spectrum of innovative solutions—specific course corrections, tradeoffs, and adjustments—you can make across all aspects of your life for a more personally satisfying and financially comfortable retirement. Some of them may surprise you and even motivate you to explore money-making and money-saving changes in your
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“Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia killed 1.54 million people in 2015, more than twice the number of deaths from the disease in 2000, according to documents posted on the WHO website last month. It replaced HIV/AIDS as No. 7 on the global health watchdog’s list of the 10 biggest causes of death worldwide. New therapies helped push fatalities from HIV/AIDS from 1.5 million down to 1.1 million over the same 15-year period.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): Much of the increase in dementia mortality derives from higher diagnosis and reporting, but
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“To plan ahead to protect assets from nursing home costs, you may either buy long-term care insurance or create a Medicaid Assets Protection Trust (MAPT) that protects trusts from nursing home costs after five years. . . . If you’re a single applicant, we have the ‘Gift and Loan’ strategy. . . . If you’re a married applicant, we have some general protections, and then we have ‘Spousal Refusal’ if your assets exceed the general protections.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): See why we need to close Medicaid LTC eligibility loopholes? Plan ahead,
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“Scoring in the LTSS area needs to be based on widely accepted facts (i.e., a fair reading of the literature and/or settled empirical findings), completely transparent (with all major assumptions disclosed and justified), and robust (to consider all types of policy interventions). Scoring should also be alternatively illustrated by conservative results and assumptions, to give a sense of the possible range of outcomes. Unfortunately, despite the great apparent effort of the Urban Institute, their model, as presently constituted, cannot serve this purpose.” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): This is a devastating refutation of
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“Recently, a close family friend emailed me about his long-term care insurance policy, expressing his frustration over yet another premium increase. Despite the rising cost, he still feels good about his decision to have a long-term care insurance policy in place to help protect himself and his family. The discussion brought to my mind one of the most powerful and iconic scenes in children’s literature. I am referring to Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory . . ..” LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform): If you wonder where the author goes with that allusion,
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