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Archives for March 2014

Many of Us Are Setting Ourselves Up for Undignified, Bleak Final Years

March 17, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Final YearsIn my March 6, 2014 blog, I reported that TX ranks third in the country in the incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and second in the country for number of Alzheimer’s deaths. It turns out, this could be wrong.

A provocative new study reported in the March 12, 2014 New York Times,  suggests that Alzheimer’s disease causes six times as many deaths as the official statistics would indicate!

Here’s a quote from the new study:

“Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are under-reported on death certificates and medical records,” said study author Bryan D. James, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “Death certificates often list the immediate cause of death, such as pneumonia, rather than listing dementia as an underlying cause.” James added that attempting to identify a single cause of death does not always capture the reality of the process of dying for most elderly people, as multiple health issues often contribute.”

People with AD need more expensive long-term care than anyone else. According to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (www.aaltci.org), the number one reason people collect from long-term care insurance (LTCi) is due to Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Insurance companies pay out more money on AD claims than for any other cause.

Unfortunately, most people don’t own long-term care insurance. Most people figure out how expensive, stressful, and time consuming caring for an AD patient is, the hard way.

Here’s additional news that does not bode well for most of us, who are woefully unprepared for retirement and long-term care.

It is unrealistic to expect the government to pay for long-term care. That’s the subject of a different blog.

Here’s a link to Terry Savage’s February 25, 2014 Huffington Post column describing why retirement is becoming a luxury fewer and fewer people can enjoy.

Here’s a March 12, 2014 New York Times article describing why income inequality often disables wealth transfers at death. From the article, “The top 1 percent of households owns about 35 percent of American wealth, more than the entire bottom 90 percent does.” At death, the wealth of the 1% is not trickling down to the rest of us.

Long-term care insurance (LTCi) can be reasonable in cost. To me, what’s not reasonable, is needing long-term care for anything but a short time, and not owning LTCi.

My advice is to read, heed, and be honest about your future by preparing responsibly for your long-term care.

Filed Under: Denial, Elephant in the Room, Helpful Information About LTC, I'll Just Self-Insure, Information About LTC Tagged With: AALTCI, Alzheimers Disease, Huffington Post, New York Times, Terry Savage

Moving Story About How Long-Term Care Insurance Works

March 14, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

What follows is a true story about a friend and colleague. An extraordinary health event occurred. My friend’s long-term care insurance (LTCi) kicked in, exactly as planned. LTCi has provided dignity for my friend and her family, plus choices and options that would otherwise not be possible.

My Story: Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk

by Allan Shoff 

LTCi DignityThis is the story of my wife, Karen Shoff, and the role long-term care insurance has played in our lives.

Karen is the love of my life. We’ve been married for 33 years. She was active, passionate and accomplished in her varied life endeavors. Our rich family life was a huge source of satisfaction to Karen. We have two grown children, 12 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Our daughter, son-in-law, and five of our grandchildren have now moved back from Israel to help with Karen’s care. 

In 2009, Karen had some tingling in her left arm. We went to Cedars Sinai Hospital’s emergency room where they did several examinations, including a brain scan. There were problems with the machine’s calibration—and with the technician giving the brain scan. Karen got eight times the recommended radiation dosage. Within a short time, she began to experience memory loss. We were part of a class-action lawsuit and received a fairly paltry settlement, which only paid for about eight months of Karen’s care.

Over the past four years, Karen has continued to lose function. She no longer speaks to people or interacts with anyone at a personal level. She has some pain, but more discomfort and fear of falling. Music therapy has been helpful to her, but over the past few weeks, she has become more and more withdrawn, spending virtually the whole day with her eyes closed, and communicating very little with anyone. 

Many readers of this newsletter know of Karen. Karen was one of the most passionate, knowledgeable, reputable, accomplished long-term care insurance specialists in the country. She was a visionary and a true leader. She was a featured speaker at NAHU’s 2001 National Convention and a long-time member of the Million Dollar Round Table. She was always seeking ways to give back to the insurance profession and the world. She did whatever she could to foster interest in long-term care insurance education and responsible financial planning. 

Karen has her undergraduate degree from Cornell, a master’s from Smith College School for social work, and a master’s from the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at USC. The early part of her career was spent as a social worker at a nursing home. 

Karen’s experience as a nursing home social worker made a huge impression on her. In addition, her own experience with her father compelled her to write her widely acclaimed book, “There’s No Place Like [A Nursing] Home”. You can learn about this book and buy a copy at www.longtermcarela.com or email me at shoffandshoff@earthlink.net. Many advisors have found the book to be a powerful tool in their practice. 

The book intimately tells the story of our experience caring for my father-in-law at home. At age 97, my father-in-law suffered a massive stroke. His doctors told us they did not expect him to survive more than a week. Against all odds and advice, but with the wholehearted support of our family, we flew Karen’s father from New York to our home in Santa Monica, CA, and provided him with 24-hour care for the last 11 months of his life. Due to the excellent care Karen arranged for her father at home, he exceeded all expectations and regained his speech. Although he would not re-gain other skills, he found pleasure reminiscing and participating in other facets of family life. Karen publicly expressed, as often as she could, how precious to us all his last few months were.

Thank goodness Karen talked the talk and walked the walk by placing ample long-term care insurance on herself.

 Karen has been using caregivers since August 2011. At present, she has 24-hour care with three regular caregivers. One is a nurse who spends about 15 hours a day here, plus two additional part-time caregivers. In addition, our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren all help in various ways. I do what I can, but the whole situation is very trying for me.

 Karen owns two CNA LTCI policies, each with lifetime benefit periods and 5% annual compound growth increases. These policies cover about 85-90% of Karen’s care expenses. Without her LTCI, the necessary, dignified, loving level of care Karen receives would be entirely impossible.

Filed Under: Helpful Information About LTC, I'll Just Self-Insure, Information About LTC, Testimonials, The Magic of owning long-term care insurance Tagged With: Honey Leveen, Long Term Care insurance, LTCi, Million Dollar Round Table, NAHU, www.honeyleveen.com

I Predict A Bleak Future For Many Who Refuse To Face Reality Early Enough

March 6, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Bleak FutureThis blog falls into the “Denial is not just a river in Egypt” category.

Thanks to Dr. Robert Roush of The Huffington Center for Aging for giving me the link to www.longlivetexans.com/index.php/site/facts-figures. All quotes in this blog come from this link.

  • “​In Texas, 340,000 individuals are now living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and that number is projected to increase to 470,000 by 2025.”
  • “Nationally, Texas ranks third in the number of AD cases and second in the number of AD deaths.” 

Currently, the link shows, the incidence of AD for those ages 85 and higher, is 50%.

  • “Moreover, Texas ranks second nationally in the amount of uncompensated care provided by caregivers. By year end (2012), the direct and indirect costs of AD and other dementias are projected to exceed $200 billion, nationally.”

It’s unpaid long-term care that can kill. Much, if not most care in the US is provided by family and friends, on an unpaid basis and often at huge physical, emotional, and financial sacrifice to people and families. Unpaid care is not calculated in the Gross Domestic Product. I can find studies proving that unpaid caregivers die before the people they’re caring for with increased frequency. Unpaid caregivers also lose their health with greater frequency than the general population does.

  • “The incidence of AD is rapidly increasing.  This will have significant economic and human ramifications on our society.  While other causes of death have been declining in recent years, deaths due to AD have been rising.  Between 2000 and 2008, deaths due to heart disease, stroke, and prostate cancer declined by 13 percent, 20 percent, and 8 percent, respectively, whereas deaths attributable to AD increased by 66 percent.10″

A chart you can click on from www.longlivetexans.com/index.php/site/facts-figures is called, “Projected Changes Between 2000 and 2025 in Alzheimer’s Prevalence by State”. It indicates that between 2000 and 2025, the prevalence of AD in TX may increase by as much as 81%.

According to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) 2012-2013 Sourcebook, Alzheimer’s Disease is the leading cause of long-term care insurance (LTCi) claims at ages 65 and higher. In addition, the AALTCI also says Alzheimer’s LTCi claims are by far the longest duration and most expensive claims paid by LTCi.

Why would anyone not want to have a level-headed conversation about the need for responsible, affordable long-term care planning way in advance of a health decline, when LTCi premiums are still reasonable? Beats me.

Filed Under: Denial, Elephant in the Room, Helpful Information About LTC, I'll Just Self-Insure, Information About LTC Tagged With: AALTCI, Alzheimer's Disease International, Honey Leveen, Huffington Center for Aging, Long Term Care insurance, LTC Insurance, Robert Roush, www.aaltci.org, www.honeyleveen.com

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Honey Leveen, LUTCF, CLTC, LTCP
“The Queen, by Self-Proclamation, of Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCi)”
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Phone: 713-988-4671
Fax: 281-829-7177

Email: honey@honeyleveen.com

Email: honey@honeyleveen.com

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