Honey Leveen, Author at Long Term Care Insurance Expert | Honey Leveen

Rolling Out the ACA Plans

October 13, 2013 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

I can’t remember a more exciting week in the world of health insurance. I’ve been closely watching the rollout of the new Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance plans. The plans were put on the market on October 1, 2013. Shopping for an ACA plan is supposed to be easily done through official ACA websites. The new plans are supposed to be so reasonable that they will be affordable for many who are presently uninsured.

My peers who sell a lot of health insurance, plus mainstream media, tell me that registering online for an ACA plan is currently riddled with delays and glitches. I believe this is due to a huge public interest in learning about the new coverage.

The government continues to promise to fix the glitches and make enrollment in an ACA plan smooth and easy.

I advise using perspective and patience with the ACA rollout.

In some states, the ACA rollout is rocking and rolling along, with a good success rate, according to the article “Heath Act Embraced in California“, from the October 11, 2013 New York Times.

Here’s another article from the October 11, 2013 New York Times, titled, “In Florida, Opposition by the State and Snags in Signing Up on the Web”. It describes a high rate, at least so far, of failure to enroll in ACA plans. Florida’s experience is dismal and nearly the opposite of California’s.

In TX, I’ve heard almost no good news of people being served and successfully finding coverage. Texas did not create its own healthcare exchange. California did. California also spent a lot of money enlisting volunteers to assist the public with the ACA enrollment process. Texas did not. Also like Texas, Florida has fought against the ACA and gone to no effort to support its implementation.

Small wonder successful enrollments in ACA plans here in TX have been next to nil.

I advise patience. These are exciting times for me.

National Commission on Long-Term Care Finds No Solutions to LTC Crisis

September 20, 2013 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

On March 23, 2013 I blogged on the official demise of the CLASS Act LTC program.

The CLASS (Community Living Assistance Services and Supports) Act was supposed to create a voluntary, worker-paid long-term care (LTC) benefits program. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the CLASS Act program was actuarially sustainable. Of course, we in the long-term care insurance (LTCi) industry knew the CLASS Act was “deader than a doornail” for a long time, way before CLASS was enacted. This legislation just makes its demise official.

The formal repeal of the CLASS Act on January 1, 2013 included the establishment of a national commission on long-term care.

The committee was tasked with creating solutions for our nation’s looming long-term care crisis, which I’ve often blogged about.

On Thursday, September 12, 2013, the Commission submitted its recommendations, right on their deadline.

This Forbes Column by Howard Gleckman, on September 13, 2013, reports that Commission members were unable to come to consensus on adopting Commission recommendations, primarily because the committee was unable to broach the subject of LTC financing, which is obviously the crux of the problem.

Quoting from Mr. Gleckman, “Sources say there was never much chance the commission–operating with limited resources, deep partisan divisions, and a painfully short time-frame—could tackle the controversial financing issue. Instead, the report will do little more than identify the two prime alternatives—expanding private savings and insurance options or a creating a public social insurance program– without endorsing either.”

Busting Another Ignorant Reporter

September 4, 2013 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Here are some comments I made to correct an ignorant reporter for at www.Bloomberg.com

Click here for the article, which describes incapacity, then incorrectly describes how to prepare for incapacity financially. This compelled me to offer the following comments:

Setting a negative tone in the first paragraph describing long-term care insurance (LTCi) indicates the writers lack of research and insight into LTCi. The negative spin is unnecessary. Parts of the reporting are untrue. The negative “spin” truly does readers a disservice by discouraging them to plan responsibly for long-term care by thoughtfully researching LTCi (at more than the cursory level of Mr. Braham’s research). The “Goldilocks Group” makes no sense to me. We know statistically that twice as many of the affluent people described buy LTCi than do their less affluent counterparts. Choosing to fall back on Medicaid is a ridiculous notion for many reasons I will not state here due to time/space restrictions. I believe any “thinking” person who understands today’s economy, or has ever visited someone in a Medicaid-paid nursling home, even if they haven’t researched LTCi, knows why this is true. LTCi premiums can be made reasonable for nearly anyone willing to evaluate it with their eyes open.

Great Piece on Responsible Long-Term Care Planning

August 21, 2013 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

The back story:

My husband Jim and I were planning a trip to the 40,000 population hamlet of Parkersburg, WV to visit cousins. My cousin Doug mentioned we’d be in Parkersburg when his Rotary meets. Being a Rotarian, I replied we’d be glad to attend Doug’s Rotary meeting. In fact, I could be a speaker. That’s how I got booked to be the speaker at the August 5, 2013 meeting of the Parkersburg Rotary Club. Brett Dunlap, a reporter from the local newspaper, was at my talk and reported on it.

The next day, the Parkersburg News and Sentinel, ran a story about the need for responsible long-term care planning. Mr. Dunlap took the time to research what he heard.

This story is a good example of what journalism is supposed to be, which is well-researched, non-biased, and without the negative “spin” we so often see in larger publications. It is refreshing to see a reporter who’s allowed to be a journalist.

I’m grateful for this story, which does its readers a true service.

Truthful Info on LTCi Claim Payments

August 20, 2013 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

These statistics from Genworth, a leading long-term care insurance (LTCi) carrier, provide insights into the nature and complexion of LTCi claims:

If you missed Genworth’s webinar on their claims history over the past 38 years, here are some interesting facts:

Youngest claimant: 27 years old
Oldest claimant: 103 years old
Longest claim: 19.6 years
Most expensive claim (still ongoing): $1,300,000
71% of all claimants are females 29% of all claimants are male
51% went on claim due to dementia & cognitive issues
15% of all claims lasted more than 5 years
Average length of claims, if on claim more than 1 year: 3.9 years
71% of claims started with home care 13% of claims started with assisted living facilities 16% of claims started with nursing homes
50% of claims lasted less than 1 year (conversely, 50% lasted more than 1 year)
The reason claims closed: 61% death 28% Recovery 11% exhausted benefits
Average age of claimant: 79
Who goes on claim? 38% Single women 28% Married Women 10% Single men 24% Married men
Most expensive claims: Dementia & Parkinson’s

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Rolling Out the ACA Plans

National Commission on Long-Term Care Finds No Solutions to LTC Crisis

Busting Another Ignorant Reporter

Great Piece on Responsible Long-Term Care Planning

Truthful Info on LTCi Claim Payments

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