Archives for July 2011

3in4needmore.com is on The Road

July 29, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

The 3in4NeedMore campaign is in high gear and it’s exciting!

Celebrity spokesperson the 71 year old Dr. Marion, a geriatric care manager is on a 9-week tour of the country in a 1967 converted Greyhound bus. At each stop, she alerts Americans to the need for each one of us to do responsible long-term term care planning. Her advice is, “it’s never too soon to start planning for long-term care needs and costs.” She is eloquent and passionate about the cause. She is infinitely credible.

Here’s a wonderful video describing Dr. Marion’s third week on the road. It’s about 10 mintues. It’s visually fun to watch. If you don’t have time for the visuals, scan to the talking parts, which have great content.

Click here for a link to Dr. Marion’s blog.

I have met Dr. Marion, who has a PhD in geriatric care management. She is eloquent and looks like everyone’s grandmother. She is infinitely credible.

I so hope Americans take her message to heart since not nearly enough of us own long-term care insurance (LTCi). When the Baby Boomers start approaching their 80’s and a great number of us need the care that LTCi pays for, those without LTCi will have few choices and options.

Valuing the Invaluable

July 26, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

“In 2009, about 42.1 million family caregivers in the U.S. provided care to an adult with limitations in daily activities at any given point in time, and about 61.6 million provided care at some time during the year,” according to the AARP Public Policy Institute’s July 2011 update. (See Valuing the Invaluable: 2011 Update The Growing Contributions and Costs of Family Caregiving, p. 1, Lynn Feinberg, Susan C. Reinhard, Ari Houser, and Rita Choula. AARP Public Policy Institute: 601 E Street, NW Washington DC 20049.)

The estimated economic value of their unpaid contributions was approximately $450 billion in 2009, up from an estimated $375 billion in 2007. The report also explains the contributions of family caregivers, details the costs and consequences of providing family care, and provides policy recommendations to better support caregiving families.

Family support is critical to remaining in one’s home and in the community, but often comes at substantial costs to caregivers themselves, to their families, and to society. If family caregivers were no longer available, the economic cost to the U.S. health care and long-term services and supports (LTSS) systems would increase astronomically.

When unpaid family caregivers become less available due to changing family demographics, imagine the battles in Washington over how to fund long-term care for the legions of elderly without LTCi!

The Beginning of Warehoused Long-Term Care

July 7, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

An article from the July 5, 2011 Chicago Tribune by John Keilman and Amy Alderman describes how nursing homes in Illinois are struggling to stay afloat and maintain their mission to provide compassionate long-term care to residents.

About 75% of the residents in Winchester House, the nursing home described in the article, are on Medicaid. While Medicaid revenues have been stagnant, long-term care costs have kept rising.

The articles discusses measures that must be taken to keep this facility open. One solution will be to turn this county-run facility over to a private company that is able to lower labor and other costs. This will obviously affect the quality of care residents receive.

Due to national and state revenue shortfalls, I anticipate that trends like this will increase over time.

UK on Collision Course with Long-term Care (LTC) Costs

July 7, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

A newly released report by the Alzheimer’s Society (The Dementia Tax Report 2011. Alzheimer’s Society, Devon House, 58 St Katharine’s Way, London E1W 1LB) minces no words describing the collision course between the UK economy and its growing long-term care needs.

Although the report studied the British, the many similarities between our two countries and cultures make the study relevant here.

The study found that only 3% of those with dementia own long-term care insurance (LTCi). The LTCi industry has existed in Britain for quite some time, but it is not as fully evolved as the LTCi industry in the US, where about 10% of us own LTCi, as my blog on the new Urban Institute study confirms.

The Alzheimer’s Society study (p. 3) states that “Despite the hard work of many care staff and care providers there are many thousands of people who cannot access the quality care and support that they need to have a good quality of life. Latest reports from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Age UK and others show that the system is not simply in need of repair but is fundamentally broken.

There are currently 750,000 people living with dementia in the UK and this number will grow to over 1 million by 2021. Two thirds of people living in care homes and one quarter of people in hospitals are people with dementia.”

Yow!

Interestingly, but not really surprising, the survey asked British respondents why they did not own LTCi. They gave the same excuses we Americans do: they didn’t know about it, they didn’t expect to need care, and LTCi is too expensive. In my March 28, 2011 blog I reported similar results of Prudential’s recent study.

Of course, LTCi is not too expensive. “LTCi is too expensive” is simply an excuse people give to avoid having a conversation about responsible long-term care planning. Here’s the simple math. Say your premiums are $2,000/year. Say you need to collect from your LTCi in 20 years (pick any number and the math. is the same). From your $40,000 investment, you will collect over $60,000 (in today’s dollars) from your LTCi policy when you need care for ONLY ONE YEAR. According the US Department of Health and Human Services, the odds of needing some type of long-term care at age 65 are at least 70%.

If you don’t yet own LTCi, please take heed of these warnings and act responsibly – NOW!

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Archives for July 2011

3in4needmore.com is on The Road

Valuing the Invaluable

The Beginning of Warehoused Long-Term Care

UK on Collision Course with Long-term Care (LTC) Costs

From My Blog

Podcast Illuminates LTC Need

LTCI is Magical at Time of Need!

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