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Archives for May 2011

Health Care Reform Could Hit Nursing Homes Hard

May 31, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

In his May 16, 2011 article titled, Nursing Homes Seek Exemptions from Health Law“, New York Times reporter Robert Pear draws attention to the bleak outlook for Medicaid-paid long-term care (LTC).

Currently, Medicaid covers about two-thirds of nursing home residents.  Since many Boomers will soon need long-term care services in a giant bulge, the result will be a “Silver Tsunami.”  Unfortunately, very few Boomers have planned for this eventuality.

States set Medicaid rates, and many states, facing severe budget problems, have already reduced payments for nursing homes, which are also facing severe budget problems.

And now a further threat for this beleaguered system. Starting in 2014,  health-care reform will require employers with 50 or more full-time employees to offer affordable coverage or risk paying a penalty. For a mid-size nursing home, that penalty could easily exceed $200,000 a year.  Faced with increasing budget shortfalls, nursing home executives are urging Congress and the Obama administration to spare them from the penalties.

25% of nursing home workers do not own health insurance. These employees are often on the lowest end of the wage scale.

The future is not looking too rosy for nursing homes and the frail, defenseless people they serve.

With minor exceptions, Medicaid pays for long-term care only in certain nursing homes. I believe many seniors who are currently receiving LTC in these nursing homes could experience a higher quality of life in assisted living facilities, but they simply cannot afford this type of care. Why?  Because they failed to have a conversation about LTC planning while they were insurable and able to buy affordable LTCi.  So they face the bleak reality of spending their final years in Medicaid-paid nursing homes.

Since the vast majority of Boomers have not planned for their LTC, what  quality of care will be available to them when the Silver Tsumani overwhelms the available, underfunded nursing homes?  Will Medicaid funding be adequate to provide the increased demand for LTC?

In view of this bleak future they are facing, the most baffling question is: why do Boomers continue to avoid having a conversation about responsible LTC planning?

Filed Under: Helpful Information About LTC, Information About LTC, Medicaid Planning Tagged With: Health Care Reform, Medicaid, Silver Tsunami

Media Getting it Right

May 10, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

In the 20+ years I’ve been working with long-term care insurance (LTCi), I’ve been waiting patiently for the media to stop slamming LTCi so that the public could be better informed. Could it be that the media is finally getting it straight about how essential LTCi is?  When I see accurate, factual articles with no trace of foul, negative spin,  I am heartened!

Thank you to Constance Gustke of www.CNBC.com for taking the time research and honor her profession as a journalist. Here’s her article, titled, “Long-Term Care Comes of Age”.  There is no emotional spin in this article because it is written by a good journalist. It contains a lot of solid, useful facts and  information. I encourage all of my readers to read Ms. Gustke’s piece and forward it to those you care about, who still avoid conversing about responsible long-term care planning.

What Ms. Gustke is doing correctly, and what an embarrassing number of her peers don’t, is relate information factually, with no tinge of emotion.

The contrast between Ms. Gustke’s example of good journalism and junk, shoddy journalism is very obvious when you compare this piece to the one I commented on by Katy Read in the Star Tribune, April 13, 2011.  Click here for my blog about this piece.

Ms. Read has her facts correct, but why was she compelled to frame LTCi negatively? The first paragraph of this piece states LTCi is expensive. She mentions LTCi’s expensiveness an additional time in her short piece. Why? To sell press? Short deadline? I have no idea. I do know that this is very harmful to the readers Ms. Read seeks to inform. The negative spin of this article is possibly just the excuse her readers need to continue their procrastination of responsible long-term care planning.

It’s also incorrect information. The truth is that LTCi is an absolute bargain when you factor in how probable it is that any of us will need care, along with the often catastrophic costs of care. Ms. Read alludes to this, but I think most readers will miss this information due to being more absorbed by her negative spin.

Filed Under: Helpful Information About LTC, Information About LTC Tagged With: CNBC, Constance Gustke, Katy Read, Long Term Care insurance, LTC Insurance, Star Tribune

Make a Gift of Long-term Care Insurance

May 6, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

Mothers spend their lives worrying about you – and they never stop. But as mothers grow older, they have another worry: becoming a burden to their children.

With Mother’s Day approaching, why not purchase long-term care insurance (LTCi) for your parents? There’s not a more appropriate, caring, considerate gift. Siblings can chip in and wind up with very, very low premiums.

LTCi is the gift that ensures dignity, options, choices and access if care is needed. LTCi greatly contributes to keeping families united and stress-free. Since LTCi provides the money to access the most desirable care options, LTCi policyholders often access the right kind of care, sooner than their people with no LTCi.

Without LTCi, families often experience great stress, panic and overwhelming expenses because they are forced to react after a health event triggers a care need. These families are not prepared,  and family members can be at odds with each other about the best course of action. Sadly, this discord can carry forward to become mom or dad’s undesired legacy. How I wish I hadn’t seen so many completely avoidable instances where this happened!

If you are still mired in a state of denial about why more and more people understand that LTCi is an absolute necessity, please contact me.

I want to thank nationally syndicated columnist Terry Savage, whose May 4, 2009 article in the Chicago Sun-Times inspired me to post this blog again this year. Terry wrote a wonderful and powerful piece about giving long-term care insurance for Mother’s Day.

Filed Under: Denial, Helpful Information About LTC, Information About LTC Tagged With: Chicago Sun-Times, Long Term Care insurance, LTC, LTCi, Terry Savage

Fixing the CLASS Act

May 4, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

Here’s a terrific article in the April 29, 2011 New York Times by finance columnist Ron Lieber titled, ” Fixing the CLASS Act to Make Long-Term Care Affordable.”

Mr. Lieber accurately describes how “pie-in-the-sky” unrealistic and economically catastrophic enactment of the proposed CLASS Act LTC is likely to be. CLASS Act LTC, which would be government run long-term care insurance (LTCi), is a little known provision that was included in the passage of health care reform last year.

If you are using enactment of CLASS Act LTC as one more excuse to put off having a conversation about responsible LTCi planning, I urge you to read this brief article.

Filed Under: Denial, Helpful Information About LTC Tagged With: Aging, CLASS Act, CLASS Act LTC, financial planning, Long-Term Care Planning, New York Times, Ron Lieber

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Fax: 281-829-7177

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Honey Leveen, LUTCF, CLTC, LTCP
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Phone: 713-988-4671
Fax: 281-829-7177

Email: honey@honeyleveen.com

Email: honey@honeyleveen.com

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