If, like millions of Americans, you need personal assistance and run out of money, you may be eligible for long-term care under Medicaid. But in order to get those safety net benefits, you may have no choice but to move into a nursing home. This is true even though most people prefer to stay at home and most of the [...]
A divided congressional long-term care commission has adopted a package of recommendations aimed at improving the nation’s long-term supports and services. However, while a majority of the panel agreed on some modest delivery and workforce reforms, it could not reach a consensus on all-important financing solutions. In effect, the commission will recommend changes that would effectively retain the current framework of financing [...]
In the always-complex, often-painful world of family caregiving, there is no worse advice than this: When your parents need help, you must reverse roles and become their parents. Here is the reality: If you are the adult child of an aging parent, you will always be their child and they will always be your parent. They may need your help [...]
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the dramatic decline in family caregivers who will be available to assist Baby Boomers in their old age. Today, according to estimates by AARP, there are about 7 people aged 45-64 to care for each person who is 80 or older. By 2030 there will be only 4 and by 2050 there [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]