Archives for January 2015

Are you sure you want to count on Medicaid to pay for LTC?

January 14, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

The bottom line, illustrated in this May, 2014 New York Times story, is that there’s been an increasing trend towards managed care for Medicaid patients. The patients featured in this story are Medicaid-paid long-term care (LTC) recipients. An increasing number of Medicaid providers are paid “capitated” rates. Capitated means they get a flat, per person allowance to care for each Medicaid recipient. In the Medicaid-paid LTC described in the article, providers are “cherry picking” out less needful, easier to care for patients, leaving more needful LTC patients with fewer options.

A reasonably priced long-term care insurance (LTCi) policy is a better option than planning on letting Medicaid pay for your long-term care.

What’s Different About Family Caregiving Today?

January 13, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

“What’s Different About Family Caregiving Today” is the title of a blog by Lynn Friss Feinberg of AARP.

Ms. Feinberg tells us, “Only 41 percent of people born in 1900 survived to age 65. In sharp contrast, an estimated 84 percent of people born in 2010 will live to age 65 or older. In the past three decades, the population 90 years and older has nearly tripled. The majority of the very old have one or more disabilities and need supportive services. In addition, much care in the past was short term.”

This is the quote I most love: “Although recent research shows that 90 percent of unpaid caregiving for people 65 and older currently is provided by family members, we face a growing care gap. Reliance on families to provide care in the way it was delivered in the past is unsustainable.”

Demographics are shifting. “The share of U.S. adults who have never married is at a historic high. About 1 in 5 (20 percent) adults (25 and older) have never been married, up from 9 percent in 1960. Greater divorce among people 50 and older, and more remarriage (especially among older adults) may also affect patterns of family care in the future.”

Our nation is woefully unprepared for what is sure to be a deluge of people who will need long-term care, and who will be tragically unprepared for this.

The only way to make sure your last months or years are spent with comparable dignity and choice as you have now, is to buy long-term care insurance.

There’ll Be Too Few Millennials and Gen X-ers to Care For Us

January 9, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

In Kimberly Palmer’s article, “Why Caring for Older Adults Is Getting Costlier,” published in U.S. News & World Report, December 17, 2014, we learn that by 2030, Baby Boomers will start turning 85. There will be even more of a torrent of people needing long-term care. Most will be unprepared.

The majority of long-term care (LTC) in Texas and the US is provided by unpaid family members.

The article says the current ratio of family caregivers per every “vulnerable person” is 7 to 1. But soon, because of the aging population, it will be 3 to 1, she says. That will put even more pressure on family caregivers and make it harder for them to continue managing all their other responsibilities.

Here’s another blog I did about “Super-Aging.”

This article is highly educational because it puts the dilemma we will face into very human terms. In this quote, it describes the huge toll being a caregiver takes:

“Robison says her experience caring for her grandmother has made her think about the importance of taking out long-term health care insurance for herself one day, as well as saving for retirement. ‘What we think we need is usually nowhere near the amount we need. … If my grandmother didn’t have a family, where would she be? Who would advocate for her?’ Robison adds that the situation continues to strain her family members, who want to make sure their MeMa is living as well as possible. ‘None of us are trained caregivers. We’re just doing the best we can.’”

My advice is to plan for your long-term care now. Owning reasonably priced long-term care insurance (LTCi) is a great way to do this.

Why Medicare Can’t/Won’t/Doesn’t Pay for Long-Term Care

January 5, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

No one researches and easily, clearly explains the need for responsible long-term care planning as well as The Motley Fool.

In their January 4, 2015, The Motley Fool explains why Medicare doesn’t/can’t/won’t pay for long-term care. They also advise people to prepare for long-term care costs ahead of time.

Motley Fool, I admire and love you! You do your readers — and the world — good, by explaining things succinctly, with great insight.

Homes on the Range

January 4, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

“Currently, 1.5 million Americans reside in nursing homes where they are often treated more like patients than residents. Despite the explosive expansion of nursing homes — to a current total of 16,100 — few older people want to live in one.” This is a quote from Jane Brody’s December 15, 2014 New York Times Wellness blog.

This quote makes exactly the same point I have for years, “… few family members would choose, if they had a choice, to place a beloved relative in one. The common belief is that nursing homes are depressing places where old people go to die.”

Nursing homes are primarily funded by Medicaid, which pays them at lower rates than their actual costs. Most nursing homes are in continual economic tailspins. Their future is bleak due not only to budget shortfalls and political stalemate in Washington, but also to an impending barrage of Baby Boomers who are failing to plan for long-term care (LTC). Such Boomers will further drain a system that I will argue is already tragically broken.

Nursing homes are inhumane warehouses for our most defenseless, vulnerable citizens. We can do better.

Many of us have known for years of Dr. Bill Thomas and his Green House Project. Green Houses are revenue neutral, far more dignified nursing home alternatives that reflect the good accomplishments we humans are capable of.

Our courageous and dedicated personal friend, Dale Bell, founder of the Media Policy Center, has spent 12 years creating an acclaimed documentary called “Homes on the Range.” This poignant film spotlights what is possible when people who believe there is a better way achieve grass-roots cooperation. It is a heartwarming story of perseverance and hope.

Homes on the Range is the story about the citizens of Sheridan, WY, who decided their elders deserved a whole lot more than nursing home care. Click here to read about how Sheridan’s Greenhouse project was born and see a 20-minute video.

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Archives for January 2015

Are you sure you want to count on Medicaid to pay for LTC?

What’s Different About Family Caregiving Today?

There’ll Be Too Few Millennials and Gen X-ers to Care For Us

Why Medicare Can’t/Won’t/Doesn’t Pay for Long-Term Care

Homes on the Range

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