“U.S. Household Net Worth Reaches Record $92.8 Trillion,” by Josh Zumbrun, Wall Street Journal

“U.S. household net worth climbed to a record $92.8 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2016, as the end-of-year surge in stocks and a steady climb in home prices added more than $2 trillion of wealth to household balance sheets. The biggest contributor to the increase was the stock market’s end-of-year rally, which added $728 billion to household net worth in the fourth quarter, according to the Federal Reserve’s quarterly financial accounts report.”

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):
Clearly, Americans hold more than enough wealth to fund long-term care without depending on a huge welfare program like Medicaid. The problem is that most of this wealth, including the recent surge in net worth, is held by homeowners and the well-to-do, who access Medicaid LTC benefits almost as easily as the poor. Reducing Medicaid’s home equity exemption and closing its many eligibility loopholes would preserve and improve the program for the needy while incentivizing affluent people to fund long-term care privately through home equity conversion or, preferably, private long-term care insurance.

U.S. Household Net Worth Reaches Record $92.8 Trillion

Reminder: The Wall Street Journal is gated.

#goldencareagent