While there is no chance the federal government will enact long-term care financing reform any time soon, several states are busy developing public insurance programs of their own. These initiatives could be a critical step as the nation wrestles with how to pay for personal care for older adults and others with disabilities or chronic disease. Washington State is refining [...]
The federal government has suspended for two years its sale of long-term care insurance policies to its employees. Some industry experts question whether the program ever will return in its current form. The long-running initiative, called the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP), was halted when John Hancock Life & Health Insurance Company, the carrier that operated the program, [...]
When Congress returns for a short post-election session, one item on its to-do list is major retirement savings legislation that has broad bipartisan support. One feature of both House and Senate bills: Expanding a deferred annuity called a Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract (QLAC). Both bills would increase the allowable size of QLACs. That might make them more attractive to some [...]
If you are 65 or older, should you expect to need a significant level of long-term care? And can you predict that need? The short answers are yes. And no. You absolutely should expect to need that care. And, unless you already are very poor, you should plan to pay for at least some of it. But it is impossible [...]
A blue-ribbon panel of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine has issued a scathing report on the state of nursing homes in the US. Operators, owners, regulators, and payors all are failing patients and residents, the report said. “The way in which the United States finances, delivers, and regulates care in nursing home settings is ineffective, inefficient, fragmented, [...]
Soon, California residents with personal care needs will be eligible for Medicaid long-term care no matter how much money and other assets they have. On July 1, the state will increase the program’s asset limit from $2,000 for an individual to $130,000 and from $3,000 for a couple to $195,000. The state plans to end the limit entirely as soon [...]
An effort to repeal Washington State’s public long-term care insurance program failed to get enough signatures by the end-of-year deadline to make it on the November ballot. At the same time, Democrats, who control the state legislature, have introduced multiple bills aimed at delaying or revising the program. The state was scheduled to start collecting a mandatory 0.58 percent payroll [...]
Facing a lawsuit and political opposition, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee has delayed until April a payroll tax aimed at funding the state’s first-in-the-nation public long-term care insurance program. Inslee said the delay will give the legislature time to address what he called “areas that need adjustment.” A state long-term care commission advising the legislature and governor will recommend a [...]
The Build Back Better social spending bill the House passed this morning includes a long list of important changes aimed at improving the quality of life of older adults. There is much left to be done, and even this bill may be pared back in the Senate. But following the pandemic catastrophe for older adults, it would be significant progress. [...]
Washington State’s first-in-the-nation public long-term care insurance program is headed to court. A group of employers and workers has sued the state with the goal of getting the law overturned. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of three employers and six workers, argues that the insurance program violates a long list of federal and state laws including the Employee Income Security [...]