The White House finally appointed the last three members of the congressional long-term care commission, making it possible for the panel to get down to work. The nominations, which were supposed to have been made by Feb 1, are Henry Claypool, Executive Vice President of the American Association of People with Disabilities and a top aide at the Department of Health and Human [...]
On New Year's Day, as part of the law that kept the nation from toppling over the fiscal cliff for two months, Congress quietly repealed the Community Living Assistance Services & Support (CLASS) Act, and created a new commission to recommend broad long-term care reforms that could affect financing, delivery and care workers. I was, and continue to be, very skeptical about the commission's ability to [...]
The New Year's budget agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff includes two key measures that could be critical to people receiving long-term supports and services and their caregivers. The first repeals the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act. The second creates a new national commission to develop a plan for better financing and delivery of long-term care services. Unfortunately, there may be [...]
A new insurance company survey of financial advisers reports that four-in-ten have clients who ask about giving away their assets so they can become eligible for Medicaid long-term care. Oddly, though not surprisingly, the same advisers report their clients say that a key goal of their long-term care planning is “maintaining control.” The online survey, by Nationwide Financial, questioned a [...]
With the presidential election in less than two weeks, consumers, advocates, and providers should pay attention to what Barack Obama and Mitt Romney would do about long-term supports and services for the frail elderly and younger people with disabilities. It is hard to know for sure, because neither man has said much. Yet, between the lines, there are important messages. [...]
In the past few months, important events and circumstances have highlighted the need for an effective, sustainable way to finance the often-astronomical costs of long-term care services and supports. The growing political and financial pressures on Medicaid--the state/federal program that funds nearly half of all paid long-term care; the deepening problems in the private long-term care insurance market; and the demise of the CLASS Act--the failed attempt to [...]
The long-term care insurance industry is in big trouble. Consumers aren't buying. Carriers are dropping out of the market. And those that are staying are raising premiums, cutting discounts, and eliminating products--all of which are discouraging even more consumers from buying. What's gone wrong? The industry has two fundamental problems. A long-standing one--buyers are dropping coverage less often than the industry predicted. And a more [...]
Reverse mortgages, which hold great promise as a way for the frail elderly to pay for long-term care costs while living at home, are failing to do the job. Few homeowners ever take out these loans, and those who do, paradoxically, may be putting their financial security in old age at greater risk. According to a new report to Congress [...]
By upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the Supreme Court has preserved—at least for now—major changes in the way long-term care supports and services are delivered and financed. Here are some provisions of the law that directly affect the frail elderly and younger adults with disabilities. Medicaid: The law is filled with important changes to this state/federal program [...]
It isn't news that needing long-term care services can be brutal on your finances but a new study shows just how it can destroy your assets. Median household wealth for those who spend fewer than 30 days in a nursing home is about $108,000. But after 6 months, many nursing home residents are effectively broke, with median assets of barely $5,000. In other words, after [...]