This past Friday we received a call from a woman who had just learned about the Life Care Funding option from the assisted living center where her husband had recently moved. Her husband is 79 with advancing Alzheimer’s and they moved him into a care facility two months ago. Covering the costs have been a stretch for her and her adult children and the facility told her that if they have a life insurance policy they could get money for it now through a life…
Senior Care Blog
Medicare and Medicaid Cuts, and Paying for Your Own Long Term Care
66% of residents in an assisted living facility in 2009 reported being the primary source of payment for the costs of housing and care. The impact of the economic recession has hit seniors and their families hard with an almost 60% drop in the number of families able to contribute to a loved ones care. The trend of more seniors being solely responsible for the costs of housing and care will only be made worse as the combination of a slow economic recovery and additional…
Long Term Care Cost, Senior Budget CutsMedicare and Medicaid Budget Cuts Threatens Quality of Senior Care
The federal government plans to cut $16 billion of funding out of Medicare for nursing home care over the next ten years. In addition, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on cutting $45 billion out of Medicare funding as part of their proposed health care “reform” legislation. The combined impact of these cuts with the shrinking dollars in every state to fund Medicaid budgets is the greatest threat to quality of care for our nation’s seniors in history. Seniors rely on Medicare to fund…
Senior Budget CutsCompanies Required to Inform Policy Owners About Insurance Settlements
The Governor of the state of Maine signed into law a bill requiring life insurance companies to inform policy owners of the state their legal right to engage in a life settlement instead of allowing a policy to lapse or be surrendered. Maine and Washington State are now the first two states to pass this important consumer protection law. Many more states, including Kentucky and Indiana, are currently considering the laws adoption. The consumer protection law also prohibits insurance companies from engaging in anti-consumer activities….
Insurance Disclosure, Insurance SettlementSocial Security and Medicare reach $107 Trillion in unfunded liabilities
As of 2009, the difference between what is owed to recipients of Social Security and Medicare and the amount available to meet the obligations now and into the future is now 7 times larger than the U.S. economy. Medicare’s unfunded liability is currently 5 times greater than that of the Social Security gap. If taxes were to be raised to meet the unfunded liabilities within a generation (by the year 2054) 1 out of every 3 payroll tax dollars would be consumed (in effect doubling…
Health Care for Seniors, MedicareSenior Housing and Long Term Care Industry Weathering Economic Storm
The Senior Living industry’s growth is driven by a couple of key factors that can trump the impact of a sagging economy: need and numbers. People don’t move into an assisted living community or a skilled nursing home because they want to—they do it because they need to. When the health and safety of a loved one is in jeopardy by living alone, families must take action. Adding to this need driven dynamic is the sheer number of seniors and now Baby Boomers beginning to…
Health Care Industry, Senior LivingNursing Home Costs Rising at Twice the Rate of Inflation
A recently released study shows that the costs of care in a nursing home are growing at twice the rate of inflation. It should be no surprise to anyone currently looking at making the move into assisted living or long term care that it is an expensive proposition. Complicating matters for families is the impact of the economy on the value of assets such as a home or investments in stocks and mutual funds. The report lists the least (and most) expensive states for nursing…
Cost of Care, Nursing HomeLegal Rights of Life Insurance Policy Owners in a Life Settlements
What are the legal rights of a life insurance policy owner to engage in a “Life Insurance Settlement”? The legal right of a policy owner to engage in a Life Settlement is guaranteed by the landmark Supreme Court decision; Grigbsy v. Russell establishing that life insurance possessed all the ordinary characteristics of property, and therefore represented an asset that a policy owner has the right to transfer without limitation. Life insurance is personal property and the owner is protected by all the same inalienable rights…
Insurance Settlement, Life Insurance Bill of RightsPresident Obama’s Budget calls for $295 billion cut out of Medicare and Medicaid over next ten years
The President’s budget proposal calls for a reduction in Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next ten years of $295 billion. The President’s goal is for the savings to help pay for the cost of coming health care reform legislation. Among the targeted areas for cuts are spending on home health care and freezing reimbursement rates for skilled nursing homes. Readers of this Blog know that we have been talking about the reality of these cuts for a long time. There is no escaping the…
Health Care for Seniors, Senior Budget CutsAmerica Owes our Oldest Citizens an Apology
In a recent commentary for CNN Politics, Bob Greene wrote a very compelling piece about the economic injustice currently being done to our nation’s senior citizens. In it he observes that the mantra being repeated in the media to keep everyone from jumping off a cliff is to “wait out the storm”. We are reminded of the conventional wisdom that economic busts and booms are cyclical, but that in the long term the stock market will steadily increase in value and after a few years…
Cost of Care, Elder CareSeniors’ Equity Crushed by Housing Market Crisis
That recent headline by MSN Money.com sure is an attention grabber. But the cold hard facts of this economic crisis and its impact on seniors should be grabbing everyone’s attention. The equity in the vast majority of people’s homes is their single greatest source of net worth. The unprecedented slide in the real estate market is a huge hit for just about everyone. Recent statistics show that in less than a year the total amount of home equity in American’s homes that has vanished rose…
Cost of Care, Economic CrisisSeniors Find Retirement Solutions in Life Insurance Settlements
The economic downturn has forced seniors that once could rely on selling a home and investment income to pay for the costs of senior housing and care to look for new sources of funding. One funding tool that is rapidly gaining attention is selling an existing life insurance policy in the Life Settlement market. A Life Insurance Settlement is the sale of an existing life insurance policy, while the policy holder is still alive, in a straightforward process that takes 30-90 days. The seller of…
Insurance Settlement, Senior LivingMedicaid Biggest and Most Controversial Component of Stimulus Package
Members of the U.S. Senate have been working overtime through the weekend to get the Stimulus package, voted on in the House of Representatives, back in line with the level President Obama had requested. The $920 billion level that the House passed, was $100 billion more than where the President and the Senate want it to be. Key in the bill is how much should be spent on Medicaid, and how to divide that money across all of the states. Medicaid, which is the primary…
Health Care for Seniors, MedicaidEconomic Crisis Discourages Families from Saving for Senior Living
Surveys have found that the economic crisis is discouraging or outright scaring people away from saving for their future needs. Many are looking at the daily headlines and are afraid to put money away and watch it shrink or disappear. Others can not afford to save as they try to keep up with the costs of daily living. Compounding the decline in our nation’s already anemic 1% saving rate is the rise in unemployment and the loss of investment income and home equity. This trend…
Economic Crisis, Senior LivingSenior Housing and Long Term Care companies begin offering “Funding Solutions” programs all across the United States
In reaction to the deepening economic crisis, “senior living” companies that provide independent living, assisted living, continuing care retirement communities and skilled nursing care have begun actively offering “Funding Solutions” programs to seniors and their families. Deep losses in the value of homes and investment portfolios, as well as the decline of long term care insurance companies, have had a very painful impact on people preparing to enter the stage of life where living at home alone is no longer a viable option. Making this…
Health Care Industry, Retirement Funding