Elephant in the Room Archives - Page 18 of 18 - Long Term Care Insurance Expert | Honey Leveen

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

March 17, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

In 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.

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

March 6, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

This 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.

Sign that I’m Getting Old: I See Actual Evidence of Income Inequality

February 6, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

In my prior blog, www./2014/income-inequality-is-here, I gave irrefutable proof that income inequality is here. Due to the human tendency to deny facts that are unpleasant, it is often difficult for even smart, educated people to acknowledge this.

The email below comes from an informed prospective client who works in the long-term care industry. Every day she sees families in crisis, largely because their loved one does not own long-term care insurance (LTCi). She believes LTCi is the only solution for middle-class people who want to secure their dignity and options, should the probable need for long-term care arise. She sought my help upon the strong recommendation of her friend. We had a good rapport, and I showed her reasonable LTCi premiums. At the point of placing her LTCi application, she froze in fear, like a deer in headlights :

“Honey – Just wanted to touch base with you. I want to be respectful of your time. My week became crazy at work. Things went haywire with individuals quitting and getting laid off. I am going to hold up on my long term care insurance. I will pay the increase when I get the insurance. I may be getting laid off. I will know some time in Feb. I do not want to take on added expense until I know something. Thank you kindness and patience with me. ~ Tracy“

When I began selling LTCi 23 years ago, I did not get many objections like the one above. True enough, there was horrid, incorrect, sometimes scathing media coverage of LTCi in those days. This is not as true nowadays. People were also convinced Medicare would pay for their long-term care or that their kids would care for them. Thankfully, both of these myths have been largely dispelled.

Now we have income inequality replacing the obstacles described above and throwing a wrench into what I believe would be an otherwise thriving LTCi industry.

This is sad to me. With the presence of income inequality, there is a stronger than ever need for LTCi ownership.

Mainstream Media Ignores the Elephant in the Room Again

January 13, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

I was momentarily excited when I read the following headline, “The World Braces for Retirement Crisis” on an AP article published December 30, 2013. I optimistically expected a story that would at the very least mention the possibility that catastrophic medical and long-term care costs would be part of the coming retirement crisis. No such luck.

Once again, I was disappointed (but not entirely surprised). The article only reported on shrinking, no longer existing retirement and pension plans that will force people to have to work longer. It didn’t make even a tiny, tangential connection between shrinking pensions, longer work lives, and how much these factors will exacerbate the existing high odds and costs of needing long-term care.

As I have reported in this blog time and time again, mainstream media usually fails to address this 5,000 pound elephant in the room: the impending Silver Tsunami of Baby Boomers in first-world countries throughout the globe, who will have long-term care expenses that they are pitifully unprepared for (see the italicized footnote below).

It’s very frustrating. The public tries at every opportunity to deny the compelling, high odds they might need long-term care. Mainstream media too often aids and abets these efforts, as this article does.

“Congressional Budget Office, 11/07 [https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/11-13-lt-health.pdf] *Total spending on health care would rise from 16% of gross domestic product today to consume nearly half of the GDP in 75 years. * Federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid would rise from 4% of GDP today to 19% in 2082. This new study shows significantly higher federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid under current law than other official projections do, which typically assume that spending grows much more slowly in the future than it has in the past. Although projections by CBO and by the Medicare trustees track each other relatively closely for the next two or three decades, by the end of 75 years, Medicare spending under CBO’s projections is about 50% higher. The study concludes that, without changes in federal law, federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid is on a path that cannot be sustained.” Source: Galen Institute, “Health Policy Matters” e-newsletter (11/16/7). Find in sources at: CBO on Health Spending Outlook 1107. URL: https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/11-13-lt-health.pdf

Request a Free, No-Obligation LTCi Quote

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

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

Sign that I’m Getting Old: I See Actual Evidence of Income Inequality

Mainstream Media Ignores the Elephant in the Room Again

From My Blog

Podcast Illuminates LTC Need

LTCI is Magical at Time of Need!

Testimonials