Far too many life insurance policies owned by seniors will never pay a death benefit because they are allowed to either expire, lapse or are surrendered for cash value. The shame of this situation for the consumer is that there are numerous options for them to explore before abandoning a policy. Life insurance is legally recognized as personal property, and the owner has the right to use their asset in a number of ways including converting the policy to a long term care Assurance Benefit…
Senior Care Blog
The Medicaid Problem Grows and a Solution Emerges
When Medicaid was created on July 30th, 1965, the entire GDP of the United States was $791.1 billion, and no one could have predicted that by 2009 the U.S. would spend over $2 trillion on health care in a single year. Today, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are all in the red and creating havoc for government budgets at the federal and state levels. According to Chairman Ben Bernanke, this has become the number one concern of the Federal Reserve about the U.S. economy. State…
Life Insurance Legal Property Ownership Rights
The owner of a policy has the legal property ownership rights to convert a policy based on its fair market value A policy owner’s legal right to convert an existing life insurance policy into a long term care benefit plan, also known as an Assurance Benefit Plan, is not to be confused with a long term care insurance policy, accelerated death benefit (ADB) rider, annuity, or a hybrid life/LTCi product. This Long Term Care Benefit conversion option allows for the actual private market exchange of…
Three States Pass Life Insurance Policy Conversion Study Bills
FL, CT, and HI look to long term care benefit plans to offset Medicaid costs Joining Connecticut and Florida, Hawaii is the latest state to pass a study bill establishing a task force and time frame to examine the conversion of life insurance policies into Long Term Care Benefit Plans. With states facing enormous fiscal pressures and ballooning Medicaid budgets, they are all looking for private market solutions to help extend peoples’ ability to remain private pay in long term care for as long as…
Is The Health Care Mandate Illegal?
In essence, the arguments for and against PPACA boil down to which side of one simple question you are on: Do the needs of the many outweigh those of the individual or do the rights of the individual outweigh the needs of the many? The Supreme Court of the United States wrapped up three days of intense deliberation about the constitutionality of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act passed two years ago. Much of the debate centers around the mandate that individuals must purchase health insurance…
Consumer Information and Choice is Consumer Protection in Long Term Care Funding
Too often seniors who have owned a life insurance policy for many years, which is about to lapse or be surrendered for minimal value, will have contacted their life insurance company to ask about their options. The life insurance company will inform them that they really only have two options if they don’t pay their premium: surrender the policy for its cash value (if it has any) or let it lapse. Most people that receive a lapse notice have no cash value because it has…
Annual Long Term Care Funding Confidence Survey
Worker confidence in having enough money to pay for long-term care (LTC) expenses in retirement seems to be rising and falling along with the overall health of the economy. The U.S. economy seemed a little stronger in 2011 than in 2010, and a little weaker earlier this year than around the same time last year. Long term care confidence levels have been moving roughly in sync with overall economic confidence levels. The survey team polled 1,262 U.S. adults over the telephone in January. The sample…
Florida Legislature Introduces Consumer Protection Disclosure Bill
Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis (CEFA) estimates annual savings from policy conversions over $150 million to Florida Medicaid and Tax Payers Since the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) unanimously passed the Life Insurance Consumer Disclosure Model Law in 2010, states all across the country have been looking at the cost savings impact on stressed Medicaid budgets by converting life insurance policies into long term care benefit plans. The policy conversion option was one of the consumer protection disclosure requirements included in NCOIL’s model…
Retirement Benchamrks as Year One of the Silver Tsunami Comes to an End
2011 was a benchmark year for the Baby Boomer generation, marking the beginning of the Silver Tsunami. By the time the clock strikes mid-night and we welcome 2012, almost 4 million people in the Silver Tsunami era will have turned 65 years of age. During the 365 days of 2011, ten thousand Americans turned 65 each and every day. 2012 is only the second of a twenty year journey where that pace continues annually until it ends with almost 80 million Baby Boomers crossing the…
Mandated Budget Reductions will Impact Medicare and Medicaid
As the Super Committee falters in its effort to reduce federal spending, mandated budget reductions create further pressure on the funding of long-term care By Chris Orestis Earlier this year, the so-called Super Committee could not overcome partisan differences over spending cuts and new revenues (taxes) within their mandated deadline and conceded defeat. That unfortunate outcome triggers mandated reductions in the federal budget of $1.3 trillion that will have an immediate impact on Medicare and Medicaid. This will be particularly disruptive for seniors and long…
Medicare Cuts Could Spark National Trend of Skilled Nursing Layoffs
Alyssa Gerace, Senior Housing News, December 18, 2011 According to a study by Avalere Health found that the 11.1 percent Medicare funding cut to nursing homes that went into effect on October 1 will ultimately reduce funding by $79 billion over the next 10 years. Alliance for Quality Nursing Home president Alan Rosenbloom says that if the cuts were phased in over a 3 year period, the impact would not be as drastic. “A gradual phase-in of the federal regulation—which has been done in the…
Medicaid Rules Do Not Allow for Keeping a Life Insurance Policy
When an individual applies for Medicaid, the State conducts a “look back” to find transfers of assets for 60 months prior to the date the individual is institutionalized or, if later, the date he or she applies for Medicaid. All transfers made by the applicant or the applicant’s spouse subsequent to January 1, 2010, whether from an individual or to an individual or from a trust or to a trust, have a five year look-back period. These provisions apply when assets are transferred by individuals…
Long Term Care Insurance Sales Down When They Should Be Up
Long term health care insurance has not been a profitable product for most insurance companies in the last decade. Many insurance companies found themselves paying out more than was expected to customers due to rising health care costs, including pharmaceutical cost increases. The number of customers buying long term health care policies in the last decade has declined considerably due to many factors, including the downturn in the economy. In the U.S., only a small percentage of people are insured for long term health care…
Long-Term Care Awareness Campaign “3 in 4 Need More” Gains Support
KIRKLAND, WA, November 21, 2011 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) This month the 3in4 Association added 6 new members to its advisory board, and got new support from two insurance carriers: John Hancock and Genworth Financial. “We’re gaining momentum,” says Mark Goldberg, Treasurer of the association that runs the “3 in 4 Need More” campaign. The goal of the campaign is to warn Americans about a looming problem. “The majority will be affected at some point by long-term care needs of themselves or a close family member,” says…
Funding Long Term Care and New Legislative Support of Life Policies
New Legislation Supports Use of Life Policies to Pay for Long Term Care Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid funding specifically for long term care services coupled with the growing Boomer and senior population of this country are driving the need to fund more and more long term care costs through private pay dollars. Unfortunately, there is a lack of consumer awareness about how Long Term Care funding works and the facts about private market funding options. There is more than $20 trillion of in-force life…