WASHINGTON — More than 1/3 of U.S. residents contacted indicated they would turn to family and friends for long term care, a
new survey shows.

That is the feeling, should the situation arise, among 39 percent of the 1,025 adults polled by the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education. However statistics reveal that nearly one in two will enter a nursing facility at some point.

Relatively few interviewees said they plan to rely on insurance OR private savings. “It’s a train wreck waiting to happen for this generation,” says Clay Cotton of www.PrepSmart.com.

Deb Newman, a LIFE Foundation board member, says the survey shows that many people have no plan at all when it comes to long term care.

Most respondents said they expected to help finance long term care with Social Security and savings, yet they admitted little knowledge of care costs and the likelihood of needing care.

Cotton suggests looking into insurance coverage as soon as possible through the online Buyer’s Advocate Alliance.

Technorati Tags: long term care, insurance, Social Security, coverage

North Carolina’s problems reflect a growing national concern. It’s a trend that likely could send the industry spiraling into a financial crash, said the head of a reform group.

As the public funding infrastructure implodes over the next decade or two, we’re going to hurt a lot of poor people who won’t have any access to a decent safety net.

Stacy Flannery, with the N.C. Health Care Facilities Association, said that nursing homes in North Carolina are approaching a $14-per-patient per-day loss when caring for Medicaid patients. And she said that the care of about 75 percent of the patients in North Carolina nursing homes is paid for by Medicaid.

“We are completely at the mercy of Medicaid for our stability,” she said. Flannery said that for the current rate year, which ends Sept. 30, nursing homes in North Carolina are projected to incur a $117-million loss for Medicaid patients..

“You can only bleed your private-pay patients so much,” Flannery said.

If changes aren’t made, wage-earners in future decade
could be paying larger sums of their earnings just to help pay for the
upkeep of the elderly and other health benefits, he said.

At the current pace, 40 percent of all wages would be needed to pay for Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans Administration benefits by
2050, Moses said.

“The trends can’t continue and won’t,” he added.

Flannery would like to see a tax credit reinstated that would give individuals a break if they purchase their own long term care insurance, and we agree.

In any case, long term care insurance is wise for all to consider, and when you are ready, you can get free, rate quote comparisons without obligation through the online Buyer’s Advocate.

* An estimated 10 million Americans needed long-term care in 2000. 2
* Most but not all persons in need of long-term care are elderly. Approximately 63% are persons aged 65 and older (6.3 million); the remaining 37% are 64 years of age and younger (3.7 million). 3
* The lifetime probability of becoming disabled in at least two activities of daily living or of being cognitively impaired is 68% for people age 65 and older. 4
* By 2050, the number of individuals using paid long-term care services in any setting (e.g., at home, residential care such as assisted living, or skilled nursing facilities) will likely double from the 13 million using services in 2000, to 27 million people. This estimate is influenced by growth in the population of older people in need of care. 5
* Of the older population with long-term care needs in the community, about 30% (1.5 million persons) have substantial long-term care needs (three or more ADL limitations). Of these, about 25% are 85 and older and 70% report they are in fair to poor health. 6
40% of the older population with long-term care needs are poor or near poor (with incomes below 150% of the federal poverty level). 7
* Between 1984 and 1994, the number of older persons receiving long-term care remained about the same at 5.5 million people, while the prevalence of long-term care use declined from 19.7% to 16.7% of the 65+ population. In comparison, 2.1%, or over 3.3 million, of the population aged 18–64 received long-term care in the community in 1994. 8
* While there was a decline in the proportion (i.e., prevalence) of the older population receiving long-term care, the level of disability and cognitive impairment among those who received assistance with daily tasks rose sharply. The proportion receiving help with three to six ADLs increased from 35.4% to 42.9% between 1984 and 1994. The proportion of cognitive impairment among the 65+ population rose from 34% to 40%. 9
* The prevalence of cognitive impairment among the older population increased over the past decade, while the prevalence of physical impairment remains unchanged. 10
* In 2002, the percentage of older persons with moderate or severe memory impairment ranged from about 5% among persons aged 65–69 to about 32% among persons aged 85 or older. 11
* Individuals 85 years and older, the oldest old, are one of the fastest growing segments of the population. In 2005, there are an estimated 5 million people 85+ in the United States.12 This figure is expected to increase to 19.4 million by 2050.13 This means that there could be an increase from 1.6 million to 6.2 million people age 85 or over with severe or moderate memory impairment in 2050. 12

Since Medicare does not cover long term care, and Medicaid only pays once you are broke, the only way to protects your assets is to own long term care insurance. Get your rate quote comparisons from the Buyer’s Advocate.

Notes:
1 Special Committee on Aging. Developments in Aging: 1997 and 1998, Volume 1, Report 106-229. Washington, DC: United States Senate, 2000.
2 Rogers, S., & H. Komisar. Who needs long-term care? Fact Sheet, Long-Term Care Financing Project. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2003.
3 Ibid.
4 AARP. Beyond 50.2003: A Report to the Nation on Independent Living and Disability, 2003,
(11 Jan 2005).
5 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and U.S. Department of Labor. The future supply of long-term care workers in relation to the aging baby boom generation: Report to Congress. Washington, DC: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, (2003).
(20 Jan 2005)
6 The Henry J. Kaiser Foundation. Long-term Care: Medicaid’s role and challenges [Publication #2172]. Washington, DC: Author, 1999.
7 Ibid.
8 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Characteristics of Long-term Care Users. Rockville: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2001.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics. Older Americans 2004: Key indicators of well-being, Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2004.
12 U.S. Census Bureau. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau, 2000,

04statab/pop.pdf> (11 Jan 2005)

Technorati Tags: Medicare, long term care, Medicaid, assets, long term care insurance

Medicaid budget cuts will disproportionately hurt those who can least afford it, especially the frail, sick and elderly in need of long term care. The culprit behind this impending social crisis is an imminent and dramatic change to some states’ Medicaid eligibility.This change obliterates a safety net for married couples when one spouse falls ill, and it makes home care benefits much more difficult to obtain. The result will be to diminish the availability of home care, increase costly nursing home admissions and multiply the number of impoverished elderly couples.

Under new laws, Medicaid home care services will be denied to a spouse if a couple has more than $5,400 in assets and monthly income exceeding $900 — and that amount must be used to pay for basic monthly living expenses including food, clothing, medicine and even rent. Sheesh…
Imagine a couple that has been married for 60 years at the time the husband has a stroke that leaves him paralyzed.

To pay for the at-home care that the husband requires, this couple would be forced to give up any assets they may have. The alternative? Divorce so the ailing husband can get the care he needs through Medicaid. This will be the only way she can retain some savings and income that she will need to live comfortably.

This destruction of the family unit will have a profound effect on our community, don’t you think?
Alternatively, if the couple cannot bear the idea of divorce or abandonment, the wife may be forced to admit the husband prematurely into a nursing home. What message does this send to our fellow citizens?

The “new” Medicaid provisions are the result of an inaccurate view of the plight of the frail elderly.

The currently elderly generation that lived through the Depression and fought in World War II are not shirkers who seek to avoid paying their own way. They are good folks who have worked hard their entire lives and wish nothing more than to remain in their own homes. They are justifiably afraid that expensive long-term care will leave them unable to pay rent or afford alternate housing expenses.

These are parents who helped children purchase their first homes or helped put a grandchild through college and unwittingly made a transfer that will now deny them Medicaid coverage for catastrophic costs that they simplty cannot pay.

These are couples that have cared for one another through better and worse, and they just want to be sure that health care costs will not force the healthy spouse to experience years of poverty after the ill spouse is gone. Is this too much to ask?

These are people who have dutifully paid their taxes year in and out and were unfortunate enough to have become sick and frail with age.

We advocate purchasing long term care insurance as a way to help folks fund their own long term care costs. Yet, for those who have already been diagnosed with certain illnesses, that is impossible because they no longer qualify for insurance by virtue of a pre-existing condition. Still others are too old to obtain coverage, and many living on fixed budgets are unable to pay the required premiums. This is why you want to get your coverage early on to lock in the lower rates.

Those who suffer with Alzheimer’s disease, have had a stroke, or contracted a debilitating chronic illness will not go away simply because they are denied the dignity and support of a caring society, and they are not to be blamed for becoming old, frail and in need of care.

Behind the bureaucracy and the cuts on paper, there are real people who will suffer immeasurably because of this destructive legislation. Our seniors deserve better.

And for us? We need to get serious about our own insurance policies before it’s too late.

Get your LTC insurance rate quotes now through the Buyer’s Advocate.

Technorati Tags: Medicaid, long term care insurance, insurance, Alzheimer’s

http://base.google.com/base/search?a_n0=nursing+home&a_y0=9&hl=en&gl=US

Nationally, there are1,680,866 certified beds in 16,066 nursing homes

This database reveals statistics on them all. Now we need a listing for assisted living facillities & alzheimers units,all of which are covered by long term care insurance.

IMPORTANT: Ask for free comparative rate quotes from the online long term care insurance Buyer’s Advocate.

Technorati Tags: nursing homes, assisted living facillities, alzheimers, long term care insurance

Americans are an independent bunch, and we know they are going to try to do it on their own, and we do not have a problem at all in this country in agreeing to tax for programs to support those people in need.

Delaying the onset of costly, long-term care — whether through promoting physical activity and healthy eating, redesigning communities for senior needs or developing new diversions from care — is expected to save untold millions of dollars.

If people don’t need access to Medicaid, it’s cheaper for state and federal governments in the long run, they get the services they need, and they don’t get their estates taken away.

Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people 65 and older, does not pay for long-term care.

Medicaid, the federal-state program of health insurance for the poor, does pay — but only when people “spend down” assets other than their homes. Governments can recover Medicaid costs from people’s estates after they die.

One is a proposal to tax soft drinks to raise money for a variety of public-health efforts.

Another is a proposal, spurred by a recent federal law, is to encourage people to buy long-term care insurance. If a policyholder uses up the maximum benefit (typically $250,000) and then requires Medicaid coverage for nursing-home or other care, assets up to that maximum benefit are exempt from Medicaid asset recovery by government.

Get free comparison quotes for long term care insurance through the Buyer’s Advocate Alliance today.

Technorati Tags: long-term care insurance, Medicaid, assets

Unfortunately, much of their care must be provided by family members, unless more folks get long term care insurance protection now while they still can. Though 1/2 of today’s retirees will incur no out-of-pocket expenses for long-term care, 1 percent will need more than $250,000 of their own money set aside and invested at age 65 to pay for their future care.

Perhaps most important are the study’s insights about the long term care experiences that individuals and their families can really expect. 65 percent of all people age 65 will spend some time at home needing long-term care; 30 percent will receive care at home for more than 2 years; and 11 percent will get it for more than 5 years. Even if

Nearly a 1/4 of retirees will rely on informal care provided by family members at home for at least 2 years. Projections about facility care show that 35 percent of people age 65 will use nursing-home care, with 5 percent of 65-year-olds spending more than five years in nursing facilities.

The analysis is titled “Long-Term Care Over an Uncertain Future: What Can Current Retirees Expect?” It was issued by Peter Kemper, professor of health policy and administration at Penn State, along with Harriet L. Komisar of Georgetown University and Lisa Alecxih of Lewin Group.

The report is yet another warning for folks to get their long term care insurance coverage as early as possible. Ask for your free comparative insurance quotes now from the Buyer’s Advocate Alliance.

Technorati Tags: long-term care, expenses