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What’s Different About Family Caregiving Today?

January 13, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

“What’s Different About Family Caregiving Today” is the title of a blog by Lynn Friss Feinberg of AARP.

Ms. Feinberg tells us, “Only 41 percent of people born in 1900 survived to age 65. In sharp contrast, an estimated 84 percent of people born in 2010 will live to age 65 or older. In the past three decades, the population 90 years and older has nearly tripled. The majority of the very old have one or more disabilities and need supportive services. In addition, much care in the past was short term.”

This is the quote I most love: “Although recent research shows that 90 percent of unpaid caregiving for people 65 and older currently is provided by family members, we face a growing care gap. Reliance on families to provide care in the way it was delivered in the past is unsustainable.”

Demographics are shifting. “The share of U.S. adults who have never married is at a historic high. About 1 in 5 (20 percent) adults (25 and older) have never been married, up from 9 percent in 1960. Greater divorce among people 50 and older, and more remarriage (especially among older adults) may also affect patterns of family care in the future.”

Our nation is woefully unprepared for what is sure to be a deluge of people who will need long-term care, and who will be tragically unprepared for this.

The only way to make sure your last months or years are spent with comparable dignity and choice as you have now, is to buy long-term care insurance.

There’ll Be Too Few Millennials and Gen X-ers to Care For Us

January 9, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

In Kimberly Palmer’s article, “Why Caring for Older Adults Is Getting Costlier,” published in U.S. News & World Report, December 17, 2014, we learn that by 2030, Baby Boomers will start turning 85. There will be even more of a torrent of people needing long-term care. Most will be unprepared.

The majority of long-term care (LTC) in Texas and the US is provided by unpaid family members.

The article says the current ratio of family caregivers per every “vulnerable person” is 7 to 1. But soon, because of the aging population, it will be 3 to 1, she says. That will put even more pressure on family caregivers and make it harder for them to continue managing all their other responsibilities.

Here’s another blog I did about “Super-Aging.”

This article is highly educational because it puts the dilemma we will face into very human terms. In this quote, it describes the huge toll being a caregiver takes:

“Robison says her experience caring for her grandmother has made her think about the importance of taking out long-term health care insurance for herself one day, as well as saving for retirement. ‘What we think we need is usually nowhere near the amount we need. … If my grandmother didn’t have a family, where would she be? Who would advocate for her?’ Robison adds that the situation continues to strain her family members, who want to make sure their MeMa is living as well as possible. ‘None of us are trained caregivers. We’re just doing the best we can.’”

My advice is to plan for your long-term care now. Owning reasonably priced long-term care insurance (LTCi) is a great way to do this.

Why Medicare Can’t/Won’t/Doesn’t Pay for Long-Term Care

January 5, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

No one researches and easily, clearly explains the need for responsible long-term care planning as well as The Motley Fool.

In their January 4, 2015, The Motley Fool explains why Medicare doesn’t/can’t/won’t pay for long-term care. They also advise people to prepare for long-term care costs ahead of time.

Motley Fool, I admire and love you! You do your readers — and the world — good, by explaining things succinctly, with great insight.

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.

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What’s Different About Family Caregiving Today?

There’ll Be Too Few Millennials and Gen X-ers to Care For Us

Why Medicare Can’t/Won’t/Doesn’t Pay for Long-Term Care

Nursing Homes Imperiled

How’s Your LTC IQ? Take a Fun Quiz

Long-Term Care (LTC) IQ QUIZ

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