How to Pay for Elder Care

June 20, 2013 / Chris Orestis

How to pay for Elder Care: Homecare, Assisted Living, Nursing Home, Memory Care or Hospice One of the biggest challenges facing seniors and their families today is how to pay for Elder Care, especially the various forms of Elder Care. Elder Care or Senior Care can come in many different forms. There is Private Duty Homecare and Skilled Home Health Care. There is Independent Living, Assisted Living and Continuing Care Retirement Communities. There are Memory Care Facilities, Nursing Homes and Hospice Care. All forms of…

How The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Affects Health Care: Six Questions

December 26, 2012 / Chris Orestis

By Mary Agnes Carey KHN Staff Writer Dec 04, 2012 The impending “fiscal cliff” is a package of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes set to kick in next month unless President Barack Obama and Capitol Hill agree on a way to stop them. Negotiations to avert the cuts are ongoing and both sides have exchanged offers. The president and congressional Democrats have said they will reduce spending on entitlements, including Medicare, if Republicans will agree to increase tax rates on the highest earners. While…

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Health Care for Seniors, Senior Issues

The GAO Finds Problems with LTC Benefits Applicant Reviews

August 31, 2012 / Chris Orestis

By Allison Bell/August 27, 2012 Investigators at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) have found that state Medicaid programs are having trouble getting the consumer financial information they need to determine whether residents seeking Medicaid nursing home benefits really are poor enough to qualify for the benefits. Carolyn Yocum, discusses the GAO’s findings in a report on state Medicaid long-term care (LTC) asset screening prepared for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who is a medical doctor. State Medicaid plans pay for…

Is The Health Care Mandate Illegal?

March 31, 2012 / Chris Orestis

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…

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…

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Health Care for Seniors, Senior Issues

It’s Time for National Life Insurance Consumer Disclosure Legislation

September 9, 2010 / Chris Orestis

First it was passed in Washington State. Oregon and Maine soon followed with similar laws and now more states are in the process of following their lead. The law that started out small but is now growing fast is the Life Insurance Consumer Disclosure Law and now the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) is drafting a model law for every state legislature in the country. It will require that life insurance companies inform policy owners that they have numerous alternative means to extract value…

CBO Projection– Government Budgets will not keep pace with demand for healthcare spending

March 28, 2010 / Chris Orestis

” The federal budget is on an unsustainable path, primarily because of the rising cost of health care and the aging of the U.S. population.”– Congressional Budget Office March, 2010 When you visit the CBO’s website that is the very first message to greet you in a very PROMINENT headline on their homepage! The chart below this dire warning is a graphical depiction of how sharply spending on Medicare and Medicaid escalates above spending on Social Security and on every other Federal expenditure combined will…

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Health Care for Seniors

Senator Snowe Explains Position on Healthcare Reform

October 4, 2009 / Chris Orestis

Senator Snowe (R) of Maine has emerged as one of the most important figures in the healthcare reform debate that has been transpiring in Washington, DC and around the country for months. She is one of the most respected and influential Senators serving today because of her moderate approach to issues and her thoughtful efforts towards bi-partisan coalition building. In recent correspondence with Chris Orestis, Senator Snowe was kind enough to share her thoughts about healthcare reform with Life Care Funding Group. We are pleased…

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Health Care for Seniors

Health Care Reform Will Hinge on Seniors

September 25, 2009 / Chris Orestis

The raucous health care reform debate that has been playing out across the country and in Washington, DC is now reaching the point where key Congressional committees are voting on which provisions will be in or out of the final bill. Central to these votes and the tensions all around is how reform will impact seniors. In numerous versions Medicare cuts have been proposed and opposed. As different versions of reform bills have cleared various House and Senate committees, it has remained very clear that…

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AARP, Health Care for Seniors

Social Security and Medicare reach $107 Trillion in unfunded liabilities

June 22, 2009 / Chris Orestis

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…

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Health Care for Seniors, Medicare

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Posts tagged "Health Care for Seniors"

How to Pay for Elder Care

How The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Affects Health Care: Six Questions

The GAO Finds Problems with LTC Benefits Applicant Reviews

Is The Health Care Mandate Illegal?

Bernanke: Health, Aging to Drive Budget

It’s Time for National Life Insurance Consumer Disclosure Legislation

CBO Projection– Government Budgets will not keep pace with demand for healthcare spending

Senator Snowe Explains Position on Healthcare Reform

Health Care Reform Will Hinge on Seniors

Social Security and Medicare reach $107 Trillion in unfunded liabilities

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