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Nursing Homes Imperiled

January 1, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Happy New Year, all!

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, 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. Loved ones often wait a long time for help to come. Seven Acres is the best that any primarily Medicaid-funded nursing home can be. Unfortunately, even the best Medicaid-funded nursing homes have too few caregivers and tend to be warehouses for the elderly and infirm.

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 for long-term care (LTC) and decreased Medicaid reimbursements will cause Seven Acres to continue to run in the red, in what I foresee as a continued downward spiral.

My donation will have no effect on potential changes and reforms that will be necessary to preserve Medicaid-paid LTC 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.

How’s Your LTC IQ? Take a Fun Quiz

December 27, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

I hope you’ll enjoy taking the quiz below. I used it with great success at a talk I gave yesterday. I awarded a lottery scratch-off ticket to each person who gave a correct answer (I gave them printed copies of the article and told them where to find the answers). My students were quite engaged and seemed to enjoy it.

The questions below come from an October 28, 2014 US News and World Report article called, You’ll Likely Need Long-Term Care, But How Will You Pay for It? This article is great because it’s accurate, brief, straightforward, and well-researched. The article links its statements to the studies documenting them.

Long-Term Care (LTC) IQ QUIZ

1) What percentage of caregiving is done by unpaid family members and friends, including spouses, children and relatives?

2) What percentage of unpaid caregivers had to make financial sacrifices?

3) What is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the US?

4) Nationwide, what percentage of LTC costs does Medicaid pay?

5) What percentage of Americans own LTC insurance?

6) What percentage of Americans are concerned about LTC costs?

7) What is the correct age to consider buying LTC insurance?

8) What is the annual cost of nursing home care?

Answers

1) 90%. I’ve done prior blogs on this.

2) 37%. I’ve done prior blogs on this.

3) Medical expenses which include LTC.

4) Two-thirds. See my blogs on Medicaid.

5) 15%. This is on the high side, other sources say closer to 11%. Bottom line: not enough of us!

6) 74% say they’d forego a cup of Starbucks a day to pay their LTC premiums. But they aren’t doing so!

7) In your 40’s. I’ve done prior blogs on why this is so.

8) $50,000/year. This is an average and is not for the accommodations you’d desire. Check out Genworth’s annual cost of care survey to find all care costs in your locale.

Denial Antidotes

December 22, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

The majority of us deny the fact that the odds we will need long-term care (LTC) are quite high (70% at age 65, according to www.longtermcare.gov). More importantly, we deny the potentially catastrophic consequences caused by needing LTC without being prepared.

Here are some denial-busting tools for the ones you care about, but who refuse to have a conversation about responsible, reasonable LTC planning now, while they are able to qualify for LTC insurance and find good rates.

Give your loved one this special, eight question LTC IQ Quiz.

Watch this brief video of Meryl Comer, graphically describing the havoc being unprepared for LTC caused:

www./resources will link you to other highly informative sites like My Life. My Family, The Motley Fool, and Own Your Future Texas.

Knowledge is power. Failure to plan is planning to fail.

Denial is a Curious Beast

December 15, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Refusal to plan for long-term care and refusal to believe manmade activities are creating global warming are caused by the same thing. What a revelation to me! A book called Living in Denial, by Kari Marie Norgaard examines the causes of climate change denial.

Here’s an essay about Dr. Norgaard’s book. I love the fact that her book defines the three different types of denial:

Literal denial. This is the outright refusal to believe the facts and to dispute the consensus science, and even to deny the existence of a scientific consensus. Many so-called “climate skeptics” fit into this category.
Interpretive denial. This involves not disputing the underlying reality, but using euphemisms and framing to distort meaning. An example of this kind of denial might be the Government of Alberta claiming that it is improving emissions intensity (emissions per barrel) from the oil sands, while absolute emissions of CO2 are increasing rapidly due to growing bitumen production.
Implicatory denial. Here, the facts are not denied or re-interpreted, but instead “the psychological, political or moral implications that conventionally follow” from those facts are denied or ignored. Implicatory deniers accept the reality of human-caused climate change, but they live their lives as if the problem was little to do with them. This variety of denial is the main focus of the book. Most of us who live at a high standard of living in developed countries are guilty to some degree of implicatory denial.

These are exactly the same denial behaviors I see all the time!

For 25 years I’ve had well-educated, affluent friends and acquaintances who like, respect, and trust me, make excuses to not talk with me about reasonable, responsible long-term care planning. Intellectually, these people know better. They are making sound decisions in other areas of their lives, but they refuse to accept the fact that after age 65, they might be one of the 70% of us are going to need some sort of long-term care.

There’s little about denial that makes sense to me.

Undeniable Proof That LTCi Is Good for America!

November 24, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

A report proving how and why long-term care insurance (LTCi) helps all of us and our country was just published. LifePlans conducted the study over a period of twelve years. It was commissioned by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).

Here’s background on the report.

The report shows that that for LTCi policyholders:

A typical 60-year old LTCi policyholder would pay $188/month in premium for the same amount of care they would otherwise have to save $1,666/month, for 22 years, for.
Roughly 22 years of premium payments would be returned after only five months of collecting from the average LTCi policy.
The majority (97.6%) of all LTCi claims get paid. My experience has been that the only reasons LTCi claims are not paid are due to incomplete claim paperwork or no true need.
Most LTCi claimants agree that LTCi enhances access and flexibility as they seek to obtain to the services of their choice.
LTCi owners receive on average 35% more hours of care than those without, and their care is also more likely to address their needs.
The LTCi industry currently serves 7.4 million policyholders and is expected to pay out roughly $700 billion in claims over the life of those policies.

For Family Caregivers, the report shows:

Individuals caring for family members with LTCi are nearly twice as likely to be able to continue working as when there is no LTCi.
Caregivers of LTCi claimants experience less stress finding appropriate services for their loved ones.
LTCi enables family members to spend less time on hands-on care and more on social interaction and companionship, which leads to better experiences and less stress.

Why the report proves that LTCi is good for America:

Because LTCi covers a majority of LTC costs, insureds are not forced to depend on Medicaid.
Between 21 and 31% of insured nursing home residents would spend down to qualify for Medicaid if they did not own LTCi. Fewer than 5 percent of LTCi policyholders spend down to Medicaid.
Today’s 7.4 million current LTCi policyholders are expected to save the Medicaid program about $50 billion over their lifetimes. Annualized Medicaid savings per in-force policy are about $334.

The graphics in the report are great. They are straightforward and easy to understand, as is the report itself. If you would like to receive a copy of the entire report, email me at honey@honeyleveen.com.

Request a Free, No-Obligation LTCi Quote

Nursing Homes Imperiled

How’s Your LTC IQ? Take a Fun Quiz

Long-Term Care (LTC) IQ QUIZ

Answers

Denial Antidotes

Denial is a Curious Beast

Undeniable Proof That LTCi Is Good for America!

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Podcast Illuminates LTC Need

LTCI is Magical at Time of Need!

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