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Don’t Count On Working Longer As A Remedy For Inadequate Savings

September 26, 2012 by Honey Leave a Comment

Later RetirementWorkers may think delaying retirement is a solution to inadequate savings, but this may not a reliable strategy, finds Kiplinger’s Personal Finance reporter Eleanor Laise in her September 12, 2012 column.

More than one out of four workers now plan to retire at age 70 or later, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. That’s up from 16% in the pre-crisis days of 2007. Just 8% of workers expect to retire before age 60, down from 17% in 2007.

But there’s a jarring disconnect between workers’ expectations and retirement reality. Fully half of the retirees surveyed by the EBRI this year said they left the workforce earlier than planned, and just 8% of them said that positive factors — such as the ability to afford early retirement — prompted the move. For the vast majority of early retirees, negative circumstances, such as company downsizing, played a role.

Please take heed. In today’s harsh economic times, there is a greater need for long-term care insurance ownership than ever before.

Filed Under: Helpful Information About LTC, I'll Just Self-Insure, Information About LTC Tagged With: Eleanor Laise, Employee Benefits Research Institute, ERBI, Honey Leveen, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Long Term Care insurance, LTCi, www.honeyleveen.com

Neither Party Has A Solution For The Oncoming Deluge of Medicare/Medicaid Services

September 25, 2012 by Honey Leave a Comment

Republicans DemocratsI was happy to see in Steven Rattner’s September 16, 2012 New York Times Op-Ed column at least a faint acknowledgement of a looming catastrophe. Because of its highly unsavory political nature, neither Democrats or Republicans really want to address the oncoming deluge of aging Americans who will further glut our already hobbled Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Mr. Rattner sticks to describing Medicare in his peice, although he does refer to the oncoming deluge of ill-prepared aging parents who will need long-term care.

Politicians are even less inclined to discuss Medicaid, which pays for more than half of all long-term care in the US. However, I have recently blogged about Medicaid’s bleak future, no matter which party wins the election.

Medicaid payments affect the quality of Medicaid-paid long-term care. Medicaid-paid nursing homes count on Medicare covered expenses to offset the money they lose on every Medicaid patient.

In past blogs I have explained why budget shortfalls make Medicaid-paid long-term care inferior in many regards. With this knowledge, why aren’t more people motivated to act responsibly and protect themselves and families against the high costs, high risks of needing long-term care? This remains a mystery to me. Reasonably priced long-term care insurance is still the cheapest way to access and pay for the long-term care options people want, and that are preferable to Medicaid-paid care.

I’ve added the bolded type below, for emphasis.

Mr. Rattner writes, “The Obama and Ryan plans are not without common ground; both propose an identical formula for capping the growth in Medicare spending per beneficiary. And both dip into the same toolbox (particularly lower payments to providers) to achieve a reduction of nearly $1 trillion in Medicare expenditures over the next decade from projected levels.”

“Mr. Ryan believes that meeting the goal over the long term requires introducing more competition into Medicare through vouchers to purchase private insurance. But Ryan’s approach was rendered toothless when the issue’s brutal politics forced him to retreat from his initial tough plan to simply cap the growth in government spending on Medicare and stick the inevitable overage onto beneficiaries. Under his revised plan, private insurers would be required to offer the same level of benefits as traditional Medicare, meaning that any savings would have to come from unidentified efficiencies (the ever-popular “waste, fraud and abuse”).”

“To be sure, health care cost increases have moderated, in part because of the recession and in part because Medicare has been tightening its reimbursements. But those thumbscrews can’t be tightened forever; Medicare reimbursement rates are already well below those of private providers.”

Mr. Rattner concludes, “the Independent Payment Advisory Board should be allowed to offer changes in services and costs. We may shrink from such stomach-wrenching choices, but they are inescapable.”

Government-paid long-term care will get worse before it gets better. Be forewarned with this knowledge and act accordingly and  responsibly. If you want to be assured greater dignity and options, buy reasonably priced long-term care insurance NOW!

Filed Under: Helpful Information About LTC, I'll Just Self-Insure, Information About LTC Tagged With: Honey Leveen, Medicaid, Medicare, New York Times, Obama, Ryan, Steven Rattner, www.honeyleveen.com

Children of Aging Parents Often Nearby

September 21, 2012 by Honey Leave a Comment

Children Of Aging ParentsIn her New Old Age article (“Children of Aging Parents Are Often Nearby, Study Finds,” New York Times, September 14, 2012), Paula Span reports on a new study by Michal Engelman, a University of Chicago gerontologist.  In his study, Dr. Engelman gives insight into why parents move closer to their children as they age.

He found that people who own long-term care insurance (LTCi) are less likely to move closer to their children, apparently because “it shows potentially less need for family care. If they need more help, they’ll be able to get it.”

Here is additional proof that owning LTCi gives people options and increases independence. LTCi ownership reduces stress and burden to family members.

Filed Under: Helpful Information About LTC, I'll Just Self-Insure, Information About LTC Tagged With: Long-Term Care Planning, LTCi, Michael Engelman, New York Times, Nw Old Age, Paula Span, University of Chicago

The Government Doesn’t Pay For Long-Term Care!

September 17, 2012 by Honey Leave a Comment

US GovernmentI can’t say it any better than William Gaston in the fall edition of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas (818 18th Street, NW Suite 750 Washington, DC 20006): “Medicaid already constitutes the single largest share of state budgets—24 percent, a figure that rises relentlessly year by year. State spending on the program rose by 20 percent in the most recent reporting year and by even more—23 percent—in the previous year. By the end of fiscal year 2013, total Medicaid enrollment for low-income Americans and the dependent elderly will have risen by 12.5 percent in just three years.”

“Because state revenues are growing much more slowly than Medicaid outlays, other priorities are getting squeezed. In many states, for example, public higher education—key not only to future prosperity and competitiveness but also to opportunity and mobility—is reaching a breaking point.”

“I had no idea how long-term care was financed. I soon learned that Medicare paid for at most 100 days of rehabilitation (useless in my mother’s case) and that Medicaid required beneficiaries to “spend down” nearly all their assets. Private long-term care insurance policies were available, I learned, but my parents—along with most Americans who can afford them—had not purchased one.”

Please take heed and plan responsibly, ahead of time, for a possible long-term care need.

Filed Under: Helpful Information About LTC, Information About LTC Tagged With: Democracy, Honey Leveen, Long-Term Care Planning, LTC Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, William Gaston, www.honeyleveen.com

At End of Life, Medicare Beneficiaries Spend Thousands Out of Pocket

September 14, 2012 by Honey Leave a Comment

MedicareAt end of life, Medicare beneficiaries spend thousands out of pocket is the title of an article by Sarah Kliff, published on September 10, 2012, in the Washington Post.

This article reports on a recent study performed by Amy Kelly, a professor at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.

“As more Baby Boomers retire,” Kelley writes, “A new generation of widows or widowers could face a sharply diminished financial future as they confront their recently-depleted nest egg following the illness and death of a spouse.”

This is because Medicare is among the fastest growing line items in the federal budget, already paying out $500 billion a year in benefits.  But Medicare does not pay for all health care expenses.

Dr. Kelly reports that a quarter of Medicare beneficiaries spend all of their wealth paying for medical and long-term care expenses during the last five years of their lives, with the average beneficiary spending $38,688.

My guess is that most of the $38,688 spending average comes from long-term care expenses, not from medical care or treatments.  In her report, Dr. Kelly mentions that dementia patients have the highest out-of-pocket expenses.  The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) concurs and has plenty of statistics proving that the longest lasting, most expensive long-term care insurance claims are from dementia patients. Medicare does a decent (but imperfect) job of paying for acute medical problems and treatments, but Medicare’s biggest shortcoming is in the area of payment for long-term care.

It is tragic to have a long decline after a long, healthy, active life. It is doubly tragic to decline and then see your money fly out the window paying for long-term care expenses. This is rarely what anybody plans to do. However, if you don’t converse about long-term car ahead of time, you are failing to plan. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Filed Under: I'll Just Self-Insure, Information About LTC Tagged With: AALTCI, AALTCI.org, Amy Kelly, Baby Boomers, Honey Leveen, long-term care, LTC Insurance, MD, Medicare, Mt Sinai School of Medicine, Sarah Kliff, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, 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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