Genworth Financial, the nation's largest seller of long-term care insurance, is engaged in an “intense, very broad, and deep review of all aspects of our long-term care insurance business,” president and CEO Tom McInerney told investors last week. Industry sources say the firm could withdraw from the market if it does not win regulatory approval for new rate hikes on [...]
This week, the PBS program Frontline investigated care at the nation’s largest assisted living company—Emeritus Corp. The program’s message was powerful—and highly controversial: Residents of some Emeritus facilities are dying as a result of poor care by insufficient and poorly trained staff and a lack of government regulation. I can’t speak to what’s happening at Emeritus, a for-profit company that has [...]
Family caregivers are the bedrock of our system of long-term supports and services. At least eight of every ten people receiving care get it at home (not in a nursing home or other residential facility), and nearly all of their assistance is provided by relatives or friends. But a forthcoming study by AARP finds that huge demographic changes threaten to [...]
It is a cruel paradox: As the cost of long-term care rises and the number of people needing it grows, traditional options for paying for these supports and services are narrowing. Traditional private long-term care insurance is largely disappearing from the marketplace. Reverse mortgages, already something of a niche product, are likely to become harder to get-- especially for those [...]
It is often a tough question: Mom has an illness that could be treated with surgery. The operation is routine for a younger patient. But is it too risky for an elder like mom? Today, doctors who consider the special risks of surgery for older patients must use complicated and time-consuming assessments to judge whether an operation is the best choice. But University of [...]
Take a look at this table, which AARP's Don Redfoot posted earlier this week: It is a remarkable story: Long-stay nursing home care by seniors enrolled in Medicaid has been plummeting for 15 years. It is not clear exactly why, but there are probably several reasons. First, state Medicaid programs have been shifting care from nursing facilities to home and community-based settings--a step that seniors themselves favor and one [...]
The Congressional Long-Term Care Commission met for the first time on Thursday, just two days after naming an executive director. But members acknowledge they have no choice but to finish in barely 90 days. That’s an absurdly short amount of time for the panel to meet the ambitious goal Congress gave it—to recommend ways to improve the way we deliver [...]
The popular Meals on Wheels program has fallen victim to Congress’ clumsy across-the-board spending cuts called sequestration. As a result, local programs are reducing meals deliveries or putting homebound seniors on waiting lists. It is unfortunate that the program is getting cut, especially since its budget has been frozen throughout the Obama Administration. But these cuts may be an opportunity [...]
The Congressional Long-Term Care Commission has selected SCAN Foundation president Bruce A. Chernof as its chair and Mark Warshawsky, director of retirement research at the consulting firm Towers Watson, as Vice Chair. The panel will hold its first meeting on June 27. The commission also quietly replaced one of its members, former Louisiana Secretary of Health and Hospitals Bruce Greenstein. His [...]
The Congressional long-term care commission will finally hold its first meeting in late June. However, the panel must conclude its meetings in the fall and commission members are increasingly pessimistic that they will reach agreement on any substantial reforms to the nation’s troubled system of supports and services for the frail elderly or younger people with disabilities. Last Friday, I [...]