Political and economic realities are driving the need for senior care industry to promote private pay options for senior living and long term care

For Immediate Release
(November 3, 2010) – During an Election Day presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), Chris Orestis, President of Life Care Funding Group addressed a crowd of long term care and senior housing executives about the financial realities facing the industry and seniors across the United States. Mr. Orestis focused the discussion on the impact of Baby Boomers hitting retirement age in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. With as many as 10,000 Baby Boomers going onto Social Security and Medicare every day starting in 2011, the nation has now reached the “long term care funding crisis” that has been discussed by experts for years.

On the very day that voters across the country were going to the polls, Mr. Orestis was focused on governments’ increasing inability to fund long term care services and the push back that has begun on the individual and care providers to do more with less—and to do more for themselves. As a way to address this crisis, a variety of private pay funding options available today to help seniors were covered such as: the VA Aide & Attendance Benefit, Senior Living Lines of Credit, Long Term Care Insurance, and the conversion of a life insurance policy into a long term care benefit plan using the Life Care Assurance Benefit. Among the points made by Chris Orestis:

“There will be less government dollars in the form of Medicare and Medicaid as more people require long term care and people will need to make difficult choices. The responsibility to fund care will continue to be pushed back on the individual and their family as well as the long term care providers.”

“Americans are proud and resourceful people who want information and access to resources so that they can avoid becoming impoverished by the costs of long term care and end up wards of the state. The problem today is that people do not know about the options and resources available to them to take control of the situation when it impacts their lives.”

“There is a disconnect between the political rhetoric across the land and the realities of what must be done to address the crisis. People want less government but don’t want to see entitlement programs touched. Government is looking to the private sector to come up with innovative approaches to funding and become part of the solution to this growing crisis.”

“People are not well informed about the various forms of long term care and tend to not plan or save for the huge expenses that they will incur. Family members can end up as unqualified caregivers with the costs of care spread around an entire family to absorb during an already difficult economic climate.”

AAHSA’s annual meeting drew over 7,000 industry representatives to Los Angeles to learn about the continuing evolution of the senior care industry.
A copy of the Power Point presentation is available by request. Life Care Funding Group (www.lifecarefunding.com)