I'll Just Self-Insure Archives - Page 22 of 34 - Long Term Care Insurance Expert | Honey Leveen

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.

Income Inequality Is Here

February 5, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

For years, the press has done faulty reporting on long-term care insurance (LTCi) and the public has been in deep denial of the need for it. Now we have a new enemy of responsible long-term care planning: income inequality.

A story in the February 3, 2104 New York Times titled, “The Middle Class is Steadily Eroding. Just ask the Business World” caught my eye. It also confirms my observations.

The article says there is no doubt our middle class is eroding, in a pretty dramatic way.

“In 2012, the top 5 percent of earners were responsible for 38 percent of domestic consumption, up from 28 percent in 1995. About 90 percent of the overall increase in inflation-adjusted income was generated by the top 20 percent of households in terms of income.”

“Investors have taken notice of the shrinking middle. Shares of Sears and J. C. Penney have fallen more than 50 percent since the end of 2009, even as upper-end stores like Nordstrom and bargain-basement chains like Dollar Tree and Family Dollar Stores have more than doubled in value over the same period.”

“Foot traffic at midtier, casual dining properties like Red Lobster and Olive Garden has dropped in every quarter but one since 2005, according to John Glass, a restaurant industry analyst at Morgan Stanley.”

“With diners paying an average tab of $16.50 a person at Olive Garden, Mr. Glass said, “The customers are middle class. They’re not rich. They’re not poor.” With income growth stagnant and prices for necessities like health care and education on the rise, he said, “They are cutting back.” On the other hand, at the Capital Grille, an upscale Darden chain where the average check per person is about $71, spending is up by an average of 5 percent annually over the last three years.”

Click here for another blog I did about income inequality.

Where am I going with this? Why am I reporting on this in a long-term care insurance blog?

Rationally, when finances are tight, insurance is actually more necessary than ever. Yet soaring income inequality evokes fear. When fear strikes, people panic. Business logic is inhibited.

I commonly see people who are suffering the effects of income inequality continue to spend money. It’s usually on “stuff”. A good many people can still afford long-term care insurance (LTCi) because we can get LTCi premiums to be very reasonable. But seeing their costs go up, their incomes remain flat and their jobs in possible jeopardy impedes people from doing the only sane, considerate, dignified thing, which is to buy reasonably priced long-term care insurance.

I Am Scared about the Fate of Nursing Homes

January 6, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

It’s the end of the year, and I’m pelted with solicitations to donate to various charities. I feel bad enough having to make the visceral decision to toss most of the requests into the trash, even though I support just about all of the soliciting charities. I feel especially bad about the fate of one charity in particular: Seven Acres.

I gave a larger than average end-of-year donation to Seven Acres, the Jewish nursing home here in Houston. It has a reputation of being top notch. When I call Seven Acres top notch, I mean that only in relative terms. It is as top notch as possible for a Medicaid-accepting, money-losing nursing facility. I have heard from friends with loved ones at Seven Acres that there are too few caregivers so loved ones often wait a long time for help to come. Seven Acres staff strongly encourages families to hire their own, privately paid, additional caregiver.

Here are just a few of the blogs I’ve done on the unsustainable state of long-term care (LTC) finance in the US: /?s=nursing+home. Because Medicaid pays less than it actually costs to provide care, most facilities run in the red. This causes them to cut corners on the quantity and therefore, the quality of care they can provide.

In its annual solicitation letter, Seven Acres states that in 2013, it “provided over $8 million in charitable care to over 85% of its resident population who rely solely on inadequate Medicaid funding.”

I feel bad knowing that my donation is a drop in the bucket and will not help with Seven Acres’ over all financial problems. Increased demand will cause Seven Acres to continue to run in the red, in what may be a downward spiral. My donation will have no effect on making the changes, and reform, that will be necessary to preserve Medicaid-paid long-term care for our most vulnerable citizens. It will also have no effect on making political changes that are necessary to gain control over our country’s out-of-control Medicaid expenses.

The moral: take charge of your own future dignity and choices with a reasonably priced LTC insurance policy.

Veterans’ Admin Helps Pay for LTC

January 3, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

A December 23, 2013 New York Times article titled, “Winning Veterans’ Trust, and Profiting From It” describes a program that’s a darling to many trade contacts I have here in Houston in the long-term care industry because it helps fill vacant assisted-living apartments and nursing-home beds.

The program pays benefits that may be worth more than $20K/year per person from the Veterans Administration Aid and Attendance program. To qualify, you must have a low income, you or your spouse must be a World War II veteran, and there must be a need for long-term care.

One’s income may be naturally low, or made “artificially” low. I know a colleague who helps people qualify for this Veterans’ program. He works for one of the companies mentioned in the article. He makes most of his living offering free assistance with the VA Aid and Attendance program application process. To get applicants’ incomes low enough to qualify for the program, he can sell annuities that are exempt from inclusion in the qualification process, thereby enabling his client to qualify for VA Aid and Attendance benefits.

Quoting from the article, “For the advisers and retirement homes, the attractions are clear. The V.A. program paid $5.1 billion to 514,000 veterans or their survivors this year, up from $3.4 billion in 2007, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The number of veterans or their spouses receiving the aid and attendance benefits, the stipend for assisted living, has surged by 30 percent — leaping to 206,000 in 2012, from 158,000 in 2006.”

According to the article, qualifying for the VA Aid and Attendance program is not very difficult. Checking and monitoring for appropriate applications is lax (in other words, the VA is understaffed; we already knew this).

This is another example of bureaucratic ineptitude and economically unsustainable legalized theft.

It’s unwise to expect our government to be able to pay for your long-term care.

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

Income Inequality Is Here

I Am Scared about the Fate of Nursing Homes

Veterans’ Admin Helps Pay for LTC

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