Senior Care Blog

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+

Cost of Caring for Elderly Parents Could Be Next Financial Crisis

June 25, 2011 / Chris Orestis

A survey conducted by AgingCare.com found that although adult children are often responsible for paying for their elderly parent’s care, the large majority of caregivers are vastly unprepared. The survey found: 63% of caregivers have no plan as to how they will pay for their parent’s care over the next five years. 62% say the cost of caring for a parent has impacted their ability to plan for their own financial future. “With an estimated 34 million Americans providing care for older family members, the…

Majority of States Proposing Medicaid Cuts for Fiscal Year 2012

June 7, 2011 / Chris Orestis

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said, “My worry is that Medicare is now considered untouchable by Democrats and therefore we’ll turn to Medicaid. There isn’t the passion to defend Medicaid because the Medicaid population doesn’t represent a political threat.” In an interview with KHN, Rockefeller discussed his concerns for the program and for the people who rely on it. Facing budget shortfalls and a sluggish economy, many U.S. states are proposing Medicaid cuts for fiscal year 2012, according to a new report from the National Association…

[Read More...]

Senior Budget Cuts, State Health Care

Genworth: Average Nursing Home Cost Rises 3.4%

June 1, 2011 / Chris Orestis

National Underwriter The average, annual cost of a private room in a U.S. nursing home has increased to $77,745 this year, up 3.4% from the 2010 average. Analysts at Genworth Financial Inc., Richmond, Va. (NYSE:GNW), have published those figures in a summary of results from a survey of 15,500 long term care providers in 437 regions throughout the United States. Although the rate of increase is only about half the rate of increase in acute care costs, the rate of increase in nursing home costs…

[Read More...]

Cost of Care, Nursing Home

Understanding your Financial Options for Long Term Care

June 1, 2011 / Chris Orestis

A Life Insurance Conversion Program is a new type of program and at the time of writing, there was only a single organization offering the program. The program’s name is the Life Care Funding Long Term Care Benefit Plan (ABP). For example, a policyholder sells their policy for $36,000. They move into an assisted living community that costs $3,000 / month. The policy buyer will pay directly to the assisted living community, the complete cost of care for one year ($3,000 / month x 12…

Medicaid Crisis Costing Families More in Out of Pocket Expenses

May 16, 2011 / Chris Orestis

Medicaid in particular has become a serious problem for the states. It funds at least 2/3 of all spending for nursing home care and is the primary payer for long term care services in the United States. Unlike Social Security and Medicare, seniors do not automatically qualify for Medicaid at age 65 and instead must qualify based on income and assets at indigent levels. Many seniors follow a “spend down” path to get rid of money and assets so that they can qualify. Since the…

[Read More...]

Cost of Care, Medicaid, Senior Issues

Long Term Care Funding Crisis Driving a Search for Alternatives

April 8, 2011 / Chris Orestis

State lawmakers understand the situation, and efforts throughout the country are underway to find alternative, private-market solutions to help pay for LTC services. Ten years ago it looked like long-term care insurance was going to be a major part of the solution. Unfortunately, growth in sales for the last decade has actually declined and serious market disruptions further hampered the product. The combined impact of MetLife leaving the market in 2010 and The Guardian leaving the market in 2011, multiple rate increases from Genworth and…

A Letter to the Wisconsin Legislature on Helping Seniors Pay for Care

March 23, 2011 / Chris Orestis

The U.S. and the state of Wisconsin is experiencing a massive influx of seniors and Baby Boomers hitting the long term care system at the worst possible time from an economic perspective. This economic crisis now well into its third year is translating into less tax dollars for Medicare and Medicaid to pick up the costs of long term care which is forcing more emphasis back on the consumer to cover costs out of their own pocket. Seniors and their families are uninformed and unprepared to handle…

[Read More...]

Cost of Care, State Bills

How Life Insurance Can Help with Long Term Care Costs

March 12, 2011 / Chris Orestis

Strapped for cash in a down economy, many seniors are halting premium payments and abandoning their life insurance policies — right when they’re likely to need them most. But life insurance — including Universal Life — can be converted to cover long-term care expenses or provide other benefits, and producers are obligated — sometimes by law — to let clients know their options. 10,000 Baby Boomers added their names to the Social Security and Medicare rolls on Jan. 1 of this year — and this…

Nearly 65? Time for the Medicare Maze

February 16, 2011 / Chris Orestis

From the New York Times By WALECIA KONRAD Published: October 14, 2009 NOW that you’re about to retire, there’s good news and bad news about your health insurance. The good news: When you turn 65, you’re eligible for Medicare — all in all, a pretty affordable way to get coverage for doctor bills, hospitalizations and, more recently, prescription drugs. The bad news: You’ve got a big job ahead of you, sorting through the Medicare bureaucracy. For someone new to the system, the hundreds of…

[Read More...]

Medicare, Senior Issues

New Disclosure Requirements for Insurers

February 7, 2011 / Chris Orestis

What NCOIL’s Life Insurance Consumer Disclosure Model Act Means Too often when seniors and their families contact their life insurer about their old policies, they are given only three options: surrender the policy for its cash value (if it has any), pay the premium or let it lapse. Most people who receive a lapse notice have a policy with no cash value because it has already been drained by the carrier to make premium payments. That typically leaves a final option of paying the premium…

[Read More...]

Consumer Protection

Out-of-pocket Costs by Medicare Patients Significantly Dings Incomes

February 5, 2011 / Chris Orestis

Average out-of-pocket Medicare spending hit $3,103 annually in 2006, according to an AARP Public Policy Institute report released this week. About 10 percent of Medicare recipients spend over $8,300 in out-of-pocket funds annually, which translates into about 25 percent of total income for the poorest recipients. Three-quarters of the out-of-pocket spending in 2006 were for nursing home costs, prescription drugs and care providers. Median out-of-pocket spending for long-term health care facilities was $7,611 annually, with 10 percent of beneficiaries spending at least $41,900 for room-and-board…

[Read More...]

AARP, Cost of Care, Medicare

Governors Get Advice for Savings on Medicaid

February 5, 2011 / Chris Orestis

In light of massive budgetary shortfalls in many states, a letter was sent from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to governors on Thursday listing ideas for reducing Medicaid costs without making drastic cuts across the board. Among the suggestions were taking steps to reduce fraud, selectively reducing benefits and reducing the overuse of expensive prescription medications. Although all the suggestions are reasonable, governors indicated that they would not do enough to help make budgetary ends meet. A number of states are still…

[Read More...]

Medicaid, State Health Care

Bernanke: Health, Aging to Drive Budget

February 4, 2011 / Chris Orestis

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered a speech about the U.S. economy today at the Washington Press Club to a gathering of the media’s top financial press. In it he specifically said: “Even after economic and financial conditions have returned to normal, the federal budget will remain on an unsustainable path, with the budget gap becoming increasingly large over time, unless the Congress enacts significant changes in fiscal programs,” Bernanke said. “The two most important driving forces for the federal budget are the aging of…

[Read More...]

Health Care for Seniors, Senior Issues

Life Insurance Consumer Disclosure Law: A Lifeboat in the Eye of the Storm

February 1, 2011 / Chris Orestis

NCOIL model may offer respite for middle-class Americans struggling with long term care costs We see it in the headlines almost every day. Between the senior population already in the long term care system and the baby boomers now hitting the Social Security and Medicare age at a rate of more than 10,000 per day, it is now safe to say that the long term care funding crisis has arrived. In the midst of the most persistent economic downturn since the Great Depression, the long…

AHCA: Medicaid Underfunded Nursing Homes by $5.6 Billion in 2010

January 13, 2011 / Chris Orestis

State Medicaid programs underfunded nursing homes by $5.6 billion last year. They paid an average of $7.17 per hour, per patient, which is less than the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, according to a new study. Such a shortfall is not acceptable, especially as the system prepares for an influx of baby boomers, according to Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association, which released the study. The report, compiled by the research firm Eljay, found that states with the largest…

[Read More...]

Medicaid, Nursing Home

«‹12 13 14 15 16 ›»

Senior Care Blog

Cost of Caring for Elderly Parents Could Be Next Financial Crisis

Majority of States Proposing Medicaid Cuts for Fiscal Year 2012

Genworth: Average Nursing Home Cost Rises 3.4%

Understanding your Financial Options for Long Term Care

Medicaid Crisis Costing Families More in Out of Pocket Expenses

Long Term Care Funding Crisis Driving a Search for Alternatives

A Letter to the Wisconsin Legislature on Helping Seniors Pay for Care

How Life Insurance Can Help with Long Term Care Costs

Nearly 65? Time for the Medicare Maze

New Disclosure Requirements for Insurers

Out-of-pocket Costs by Medicare Patients Significantly Dings Incomes

Governors Get Advice for Savings on Medicaid

Bernanke: Health, Aging to Drive Budget

Life Insurance Consumer Disclosure Law: A Lifeboat in the Eye of the Storm

AHCA: Medicaid Underfunded Nursing Homes by $5.6 Billion in 2010

Download "A Survival Guide to Aging" FREE!

Download "Help on the Way" FREE!