“Industry will need to get creative to address middle market needs, groups suggest at NIC meeting”

Industry will need to get creative to address middle market needs, groups suggest at NIC meeting,” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living

“Creating tax incentives, separating services from housing, repurposing existing facilities such as malls, partnering with health systems or other third parties, opening up residency to other groups, emphasizing wellness in programming. Those were some of the ideas that five ‘hackathon’ teams of industry experts came up with during a session at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care Fall Conference to help the industry serve middle-income older adults in the coming years.”

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):
Here’s an excerpt from my forthcoming paper suggesting a better way to meet the middle market needs:
“The National Investment Center (NIC) recently reported that reducing the annual cost of seniors housing by $15,000, from $60,000 to $45,000 per year, would expand the middle market for seniors housing by 3.6 million individuals enabling 71 percent of middle-income seniors to afford the product (NIC, 2019). Where could consumers find that extra $15,000 to bring the cost of seniors housing into reach? The premium for an annual long-term care insurance benefit of $15,000 would only cost a small fraction of the premium required for the full coverage that consumers find so financially daunting now. Unfortunately, insurance regulations forbid carriers from offering coverage with a benefit of less than $18,000 per year. Once again, well-intentioned regulation stands in the way of sensible long-term care policy and planning.”