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Policing the Media, Again

April 13, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

Here are my comments about a piece in the April 13, 2011 StarTribune, titled, “Keep those fingers crossed: long-term care insurance“. The reporter, Katy Read, is trying to do the right thing but failing:

Katy, you have attempted to do the right thing by imparting some truthful and accurate information about the odds of needing long-term care and the cost of LTC insurance (LTCi).

Unfortunately for the public you strive to help, you have sandwiched this info into a bad spin. You have erroneously stated, twice, once in the first paragraph, that LTCi is expensive. This indicates to me that you, like the public you seek to inform, are in denial that you might need care. If this is what you think, even if subconsciously, even a $100/year LTCi premium might be too high.

The truth is that contrasted with how likely it is any of us will need care (which you correctly state in your article), and how many thousands upon thousands of dollars people are collecting from their LTCi, the premium is paltry.

It would be great if reporters could get the perspective correct and stop unfairly maligning this essential coverage. I say LTCi is essential, but this is only if one wants to make certain they have all their care choices and options and wish to preserve their wealth without being forced to liquidate it under penalty or stress. If you won’t mind suffering such consequences, you don’t need LTCi.

It would be great if you could report on how easily, well and often these policies pay, and how much better life and legacy turns out for LTCi owners and their families when care is needed.
Honey Leveen
www.honeyleveen.com

www.3in4needmore.com

March 30, 2011 by Honey 2 Comments

3in4needmore info

www.3in4needmore.com is an exciting new campaign that is the long-term care insurance (LTCi) industry’s version of “got milk?”. We hope it will be at least as popular.

The campaign’s purpose is to raise public awareness of the need for responsible long-term care planning…right away. The campaign urges people to get educated about the risks and costs of needing long-term care before it’s too late.

The name comes from a recent survey by Prudential Financial Inc. indicating that 74% of consumers ages 55 to 65 said they are concerned about needing some kind of long-term care. That’s about three in every four of us!

Consumer concern has not yet been translated into action in most cases. In the Prudential survey, 25% of all consumers admitted that they have no idea what a day in a nursing home costs. And only 22% of the participants mentioned the idea of using private LTC insurance to pay for care. (Prudential Financial Inc. Newark, N.J 2010 Long Term Care Cost Study)

According to www.longtermcare.gov, the National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information created by the US Department of Health and Human Services, “…at least 70 percent of people over age 65 will require some long-term care services at some point in their lives. And, contrary to what many people believe, Medicare and private health insurance programs do not pay for the majority of long-term care services that most people need – help with personal care such as dressing or using the bathroom independently. Planning is essential for you to be able to get the care you might need.”

Nursing Homes Look Younger

February 28, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

“Nursing Homes Look Younger” by Renee Lee was published in the February 21, 2011 Houston Chronicle.

From the article: “People ages 31 to 64 have entered nursing homes at a higher rate than those 65 and older in the past eight years, according to data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The age group has climbed to 14 percent of the nursing home population.”

This statistic ties in with my most recent blog about a friend in his mid-50s who had an accident about three months ago that bruised his spinal cord and temporarily rendered him a quadriplegic. He is slipping through the cracks of our medical system. His medical insurance carrier doesn’t want to pay for the extended nursing home care he needs. They claim that he is not recuperating quickly enough, despite the fact that according to his physical therapist, he is making good progress. So they want to send him home, where his wife is ill equipped to care for him. Sadly, the couple does not own long-term care insurance (LTCi). If they did, it would most likely defray enough of the cost of his care to make a big difference in their lives.

I do not know how our friends will finance the cost of long-term care. In the Houston Chronicle article referenced above, it appears that Tim Lowe, the patient described, is on Medicaid. Under current regulations in the US, he was required to spend his wealth down to poverty level before qualifying for Medicaid assistance, and he can receive long-term care only in a facility that accepts Medicaid.

Lots of Younger People Need Care

February 28, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

People under 65 often need long-term care and have not prepared for this possibility.

We have a friend in his mid-50s who suffered a spinal injury and is now quadriplegic. One minute he was OK, and suddenly after a fall at home, he was not. He has been told that he can make a decent recovery with about a year of intensive re-hab.

The problem is that his health insurance paid the acute part of his expenses – his care in the hospital and at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research at Memorial Hermann Hospital – but it does not pay for the chronic, ongoing care necessary for his continued recovery.

I recently learned that the nursing home where he’s been getting rigorous physical therapy, five days a week, for the past month or so, wants him discharged. His physical therapist reported that he was making good progress, but his progress has not been speedy enough for his insurance company. His insurance company is very eager to quit paying, and the family is now fighting it out with his medical insurer.

This very tragic situation is unfortunately far too common in today’s medical landscape.

This family is ill prepared to cope with their situation, which is clearly taking a toll on them.

If they owned long-term care insurance (LTCi), their situation would be quite different and they would have many more options. An LTCi policy would have helped defray the expenses of his much needed, ongoing home health care and physical therapy.

President’s Day Message from Terry Savage

February 21, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

I am a huge fan of Terry Savage’s.

I’m providing a link to her piece titled “Pols are making us pay for their false promises” (Chicago Sun Times, Feb 21, 2011) because no one says it more succinctly and eloquently than Terry does.

Terry is describing the unsustainable “house of cards” that’s been created by continued spending of government money that doesn’t exist.

Government funding of long-term care is just one such entitlement.

If you agree with my opinion that it is entirely unrealistic to expect any help from the government when it comes to paying long-term care costs, you understand that long-term care insurance ownership is the only way to ensure dignity, options and choices if you wind up needing long-term care.

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Policing the Media, Again

www.3in4needmore.com

Nursing Homes Look Younger

Lots of Younger People Need Care

President’s Day Message from Terry Savage

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