I recently returned from a few days at the long-term care insurance industry’s national conference, held this year in Colorado Springs. The organizers asked me to participate in a panel discussion on policy solutions to the challenges of financing long-term supports and services. But I also had an opportunity to listen to what insurance company executives, brokers, and actuaries had [...]
Want to know what’s wrong with the health care system for older adults in the US? It can be summed up in that 10-word response on a physician’s voice mail. One evening last month, I got a panicked call from a friend: She came home from work and discovered that her widowed mother, who has been living with her for [...]
The House yesterday easily approved some of the biggest changes to Medicare since Congress created the drug benefit a decade ago. While the measure still must be approved by the Senate and signed by President Obama (who supports it), it represents a significant shift in the way many seniors get—and pay for—their health care. The measure, known in Washington-speak as [...]
Should the aides who provide home care for frail elders and younger people with disabilities receive a living wage and decent benefits? If they do, how can families, who often are unable to afford care today, be expected to pay those higher wages and benefits? Should the market be allowed to set these prices, or should government intervene through minimum [...]
Ever since the death of Brittany Maynard--the 30-year old with terminal brain cancer who ended her own life last November-- the issue of physician-assisted suicide has received an enormous amount of attention. Now it is back in the headlines as many states consider laws permitting the practice. It is an important and passionate debate, but for the vast majority of people, it misses [...]
We spend more on our health care as we age. No news there. But you may be surprised to learn that all health spending is not created equal. For most of us, as long as we can stay out of the hospital or a nursing home, our costs are relatively modest--and steady--even as we grow older. But that can change [...]
Ask a physician why he prescribes unnecessary tests or treatments, and he’s likely to say he’s responding to demands from his patients (or trying to avoid a lawsuit). But a new study in the journal JAMA Oncology finds that perception may be wildly wrong. The study, by Keerthi Gogineni, Katherine L. Shuman, Derek Chinn, Nicole B. Gabler, and Ezekiel Emanuel [...]
It is no secret that fewer consumers are buying long-term care insurance—annual sales are only about one-third of what they were a decade ago. But it turns out that those who are still buying are purchasing less coverage than ever, even though long-term care costs are rising. When industry leader Genworth Financial Inc., which sold about one-third all traditional LTC [...]
The Alzheimer’s Association predicts that finding a drug treatment for memory loss could save families and the government $935 billion over 10 years. But its report tells only part of the story and ignores key costs, including costs of the therapy itself. The group could have included an estimated price of those therapies in its report but chose not to, citing the uncertainties [...]
President Obama’s 2016 budget would make important changes in the way personal care is delivered to older Americans and younger people with disabilities. The biggest: A plan that could be a major step towards ending Medicaid’s long-standing bias in favor of nursing homes. At the same time, the fiscal plan would modestly boost funding for some senior services programs. While [...]