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Do You Really Want to Depend on Medicaid for Your Long Term Care?

January 15, 2018 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

What does government-paid long-term care actually provide? And just how effective is that care?

The New York Times reports that “Since 2013, nearly 6,500 nursing homes — four of every 10 — have been cited at least once for a serious violation, federal records show. Medicaid has fined two-thirds of those homes. Common citations include failing to protect residents from avoidable accidents, neglect, mistreatment and bedsores.”

Many health care advocates support these penalties as effective plans to monitor and maintain acceptable levels of care. Objections from the nursing home industry, however, have resulted in a significant reduction in these fines. The industry’s main trade group, The American Health Care Association, complained that the federal inspectors focused excessively on catching wrongdoing rather than helping nursing homes improve.

As a result, the federal government is now scaling back the use of fines against nursing homes that harm residents or place them in grave risk of injury. The new guidelines discourage regulators from levying fines in some situations, even when they have resulted in a resident’s death.

Burning the Medicaid Candle

We seem to be burning the Medicare – Medicaid Candle from both ends. Medicare and Medicaid fund most of U.S. nursing home care. We know they are not an endless well of money. On the patient side, Medicaid doesn’t pay enough per patient day for nursing homes to provide good care. Medicaid-funded nursing homes cannot hire enough caregivers, because they cannot pay them enough.

As my colleague Stephen Moses aptly describes, “Beatings will continue until morale improves!”

Many people expect Medicaid-funded nursing home facilities to provide them with long-term care. Medicaid eligibility requires asset spend down. In addition, quality of care is dependent on our financial resources. People who own long term care insurance (LTCi) have necessary funds and are far more likely to be able to avoid Medicaid, stay at home, or access quality assisted living if they need long term care.

Click here to receive your personal quote for Long Term Care Insurance coverage.

Caregiving for Elders, Not Children, Denies Women Paychecks

December 29, 2017 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

For decades, we’ve heard how women in the workplace were unable to keep pace with their male colleagues. We thought this was partly due to the demands of maternity leave and ongoing parenting responsibilities. Why then, when children left the home, did this pattern seem to continue into the later years of these career women? Enter the “elder-care crisis”, as described in a recent New York Times article.

The author addresses the rising trend of women shifting from child care to elder-care. Because many our aging Americans are unable to care for themselves, their care often falls to their wives and daughters. This results in reduced hours at work, lower paychecks and sometimes leaving their jobs altogether.

In case you’ve missed the statistics:

25% of women aged 45 – 64 are caring for an older relative
14% of women aged 35-55 are caring for an older relative
10% of these women have reduced time at their paying jobs
6% of these women quit their jobs

You can read more about the research here and here.

Who Provides the Care for our Elderly Family Members?

A graph in the NYT article dramatically illustrates that after rising for half a century, the labor force participation rate among prime-age women began to decline sharply in the early 2000’s – right around the time the time the elderly share of the population began to rise sharply.

It’s not a stretch to connect the dots. About 14 million older Americans currently can’t live independently and care for themselves. Unless they’ve purchased long term care insurance (LTCi), the burden of care weighs predominantly on their wives and daughters.

In his book “Who Will Care for Us?” Paul Osterman estimates that there are about 21 million family members caring for an adult relative for no pay. By 2040, he predicts demand for such care will rise to 34 million.

There are a variety of costs associated with caregiving tasks, from financial to emotional. This is one image provided by Merrill Lynch:

You can click here to find additional easy-to-read images.

Unlike the Boomers currently caring for their parents, their millennial children will not have as many siblings to help them care for their parents. Future elderly will also live longer, suggesting that there will be a lot of caregivers well into their 50’s juggling work with caring for children and parents.

The New York Times article ends on an unfortunate note, concluding that “private insurers are not the solution.” If you’ve been following me for any time at all, you know I am strongly in favor of using private insurance as a successful solution. In fact… I’ll take a deeper dive into this in a future blog post.

In the meantime, if you’d like to proactively prepare for the likelihood of needing some form of elder-care, please click here to receive your free LTCi quote.

Astounding Knowledge Gap!

December 9, 2017 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, with a new diagnosis made every 66 seconds. This comes from a poll released by Maria Shriver’s Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement and the Bipartisan Policy Center. It’s got a lot of surprising information about the public’s lack of awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. When preparing for Alzheimer’s, we find ourselves using a lot of inaccurate information.

The Knowledge Gap is Huge!

According to the poll (October 2017), there is a significant chasm between commonly held beliefs about Alzheimer’s disease and the actual facts about Alzheimer’s. Let’s take a look at some of those myths versus facts:

Most women (over 70% polled) believe that symptoms don’t begin until their 60’s.

Actually, symptoms develop 20 – 30 years before diagnosis
Also, women are at a higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease, as 66% of diagnoses are women.

44% of Americans have no concerns about Alzheimer’s because it doesn’t run in their family.

Your genes do not accurately predict Alzheimer’s disease.

54% of those polled believe that the long term care costs will run around $25,000 per year.

In 2014, the average nursing home stay costs $87,000 per year.
In 2014, the cost of home health care costs $45,800 per year.

Preparing for Alzheimer’s

Once we have the facts around this insidious disease, we are better able to prepare for the possibility of living with Alzheimer’s. You can click here to read the details of this poll and even download the key findings from the survey.

A future with Alzheimer’s disease is very likely, especially if you are female. Keep this in mind when planning your long term care options. Although most people (66%) want to be cared for by family members, few are having the conversation.

Taking steps to plan today can relieve your family of an unnecessary burden in the future. Plus, you’ll receive professional medical care, either at a facility or in the comfort of your home.

Now that you know, why would you wait?

Click here to receive your personal quote for Long Term Care Insurance.

Happy Alzheimer’s Awareness Month!

November 28, 2017 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

November is officially Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. This is the perfect time to better understand how so many families are affected by this disease. Especially since most families don’t see it coming until it’s too late to do any effective planning.

Less than 2 million people were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 1983. Currently, about 5.5 million people have it. By 2050, that number could rise to 60 million. Click here for a breakdown of some simple facts put together by the Alzheimer’s Association. I bet you find a few surprises in there!

The average long term care insurance (LTCi) claim lasts about three years, although I’ve had many clients’ claims last much longer. In fact, I expect that as more people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, LTCi claims will continue to lengthen.

In Honor of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month

It’s time to raise your Alzheimer’s awareness! To help you out, here are just a few of the articles that have made the news:

RAND Corporation Reports on the Readiness of the American Health Care System

Here’s a Washington Post article that shares some findings from a recent study from the RAND Corporation. Turns out, even the health care system is underprepared to treat the rising tide of dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. A major concern is developing early screening.

“Once people are in the grip of dementia, it’s too late. Any successful treatment probably will need to be given when the disease is nascent — before it has significantly eroded people’s memories and personalities.”

Bill Gates Joins the Search for Treatment

Did you hear?? Bill Gates recently invested $50 million in the Dementia Discovery Fund to support their efforts to find more treatment options.

“… my personal experience has exposed me to how hopeless it feels when you or a loved one gets the disease. We’ve seen scientific innovation turn once-guaranteed killers like HIV into chronic illnesses that can be held in check with medication. I believe we can do the same (or better) with Alzheimer’s.”

You can read more about Gates’ motivation and vision in this thoughtful piece he wrote.

Honey Leveen – Past Blogs on Alzheimer’s Disease

Most people are simply unprepared for the physical, financial, and emotional tolls Alzheimer’s can take on the patient, their family and their close friends. I’ve written extensively about this over the years to help raise Alzheimer’s awareness. This link will guide you to a number of past blogs I’ve shared.

Genworth Video Library

As we move to prepare for the likely onset of Alzheimer’s, we know that time is our enemy and knowledge is our greatest defense. Genworth has built a great collection of short videos. You can hear how people have used their long term care insurance plans when these life events happen.

Have You Had The Talk Yet?

There are also some helpful videos that guide us through these difficult conversations with our family. As families are gathering together during this holiday season, take the opportunity to have “The Talk”. Your parents or your children need to understand what’s ahead. Need a little encouragement?

If you are interested in planning for your long term care needs, the first step is getting a quote for good coverage. Click here to receive your personalized quote.

75 Facts About LTC Insurance

November 17, 2017 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Morningstar reporter Christine Benz has a profound understanding of the need for long term care (LTC) planning. In her August 2017 column she lists 75 solid facts about LTC insurance and the amount of care you might need. She acknowledges that it’s not a popular subject; there seem to be more questions than answers.

Facts About LTC Insurance

In an effort to provide more answers, Benz provides “the numbers”. For example:

6.3 million — the number of Americans who need long term care due to their inability to carry out simple, everyday tasks.

$30 billion — the amount spent on long term care in the U.S. in 1980.

$225 billion — the amount spent on long term care in the U.S. in 2015.

$217,820 — estimated end-of-life costs in the patient’s last 5 years of life, without dementia.

37 billion hours — the annual amount of long term care provided by family & friends in 2013.

70% — percentage of unpaid caregivers who suffer in their jobs due to their caregiving duties.

You can read the full list in the article.

NOTE: When you click through to Benz’s article, you’ll see that each of these numbers is linked to a reliable report or study.

Now that you know…

The decision to prepare for the uncertainty that is our future is a big one. It is my hope that the facts provided in this article help guide you to making a choice to protect you and your family. The need for future protection is real. Ignoring the facts only increases your risk, with huge, sometimes catastrophic consequences. This can affect your finances, your quality of care, your end-of-life comfort and the relationships among your surviving family members.

People do not want to admit that after a lifetime of independence, the last years of their lives could be spent needing help with everyday tasks. For the nearly 30 years of my career, none of peoples’ excuses to avoid a conversation about LTC planning have changed.

If you already own LTC insurance, kudos to you! This article will give you well-deserved peace of mind. If you have not already planned for your LTC, Ms. Benz and I hope you will take the facts to heart, and make decisive LTC plans, now!

To receive your own customized quote for Long Term Care Insurance, click here.