The nation’s largest seller of long-term care insurance, Genworth Financial, is engages in an “intense, very broad, and deep review of all aspects of our long-term care insurance business,” President and CEO Tom Mclnerney told investors.
(Related: Survey Shows Women Are Focusing on Saving for Retirement)
Sources within the industry say that the firm may withdraw from the market in the event it does not win regulatory approval for new rate hikes on roughly 650,000 older, existing policies.
In addition, the firm requires state to approve changes that would enable the company to sell policies that more strictly underwritten and that offer shorter benefit periods, lower daily benefits, and other changes.
(Related: Preventing Alzheimer’s)
“We are prepared to take actions such as suspending sales in states and ending new sales through distribution channels where we cannot offer products within an acceptable risk-adjusted return,” the spokesman said.
A major downturn has created a struggle in the long-term care insurance business as the result of a combination of benefits that are higher than expected, and lower than anticipated returns on lower investments.
(Related: Assisted Living and the Problem of Self-Regulation)
The weak investment incomes can mostly be attributed to an extended period of historically low interest rates. Long-term care insurance companies earn a major portion of their revenues from their investments of premium income, predominantly in high-grade bonds.
Source: Forbes
Christopher J. Berry is an elder law lawyer in Michigan Dedicated to helping seniors, veterans and their families navigate the long-term care maze. To learn more visit http://www.theeldercarefirm.com/ or call 248.481.4000
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Contrary to popular belief, Medicare does not pay for long-term care. Millions of Medicare enrollees must pay for long-term care services like personal assistance at home, assisted living, and nursing home care from their own pocket (savings).
(Related: Employment of People with Disabilities Initiative)
People often misinterpret the coverage provided by Medicare’s “post-acute” home health care and skilled nursing facility benefits. Post-acute services focus on medically-related skilled nursing and therapy services some patients require following hospital or outpatient treatment. Skilled nursing visits for wound care and physical therapy are examples. Contrastingly, long-term care is comprised of personal assistance with routine activities like bathing, going to the bathroom, and managing medications, typically, for a period of three months or longer. Despite their distinct differences, because home health agencies and skilled nursing facilities offer both types of care, confusion is often the result.
(Related: Preventing Alzheimer’s)
Medicare’s home health care benefits covers intermittent skilled nursing and therapy visits for those who are homebound and have a doctor-certified medical need for services. Those who argue that the home health benefit covers long-term care generally focuses on home health aide visits, which provide some personal assistance to those eligible for skilled visits. However, coverage of these visits is limited and data suggest that they are a small portion of the overall home health program. Only 17% of Medicare home health visits, accounting for roughly 11% of home health spending, are aide visits with the majority of these visits being allocated to people with temporary, not long-term needs for personal assistance.
(Related: Elder Home Care Workers – A Growing Workforce)
Medicare will cover up to 100 days of skilled nursing facility care following a hospital stay of at least three days for those with a daily need for skilled care, like intravenous injections or physical therapy. Data indicates that majority of Medicare-financed skilled nursing facility stays are much shorter than they would be if providers maximized Medicare to pay for long-term care. Ninety percent of Medicare-covered skilled nursing facility stays are for a period of 60 days or less, with more than half (52%) being 20 or fewer days.
(Related: Family Caregiver Distress Assessment)
It is imperative that Americans understand the limits of Medicare coverage when considering long-term care decisions. Also, policy leaders like the Commission on Long-Term Care, need to portray an accurate picture of how long-term care if financed. The Commission should clearly state that most Medicare enrollees, like most AMericans, have no insurance protection for long-term care.
Read more: http://blog.aarp.org/2013/08/22/medicare-does-not-pay-for-long-term-care/?intcmp=DSO-LOGIN
Christopher J. Berry is an elder law lawyer in Michigan Dedicated to helping seniors, veterans and their families navigate the long-term care maze. To learn more visit http://www.theeldercarefirm.com/ or call 248.481.4000
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Americans with disabilities are facing disproportionately high rates of unemployment compared to Americans without them. Individuals with disabilities should have, to the greatest possible extent, the same opportunities as all others: living close to family and friends; living independently and in safe communities; engaging in productive employment; and participating in community life. For those reasons, A Better Bottom Line: Employing People with Disabilities has been created to focus on these opportunities.
(Related: Preventing Alzheimer’s”
A Better Bottom Line: Employing People with Disabilities intends to increase employment for the disabled. It will focus on the employment challenges that affect individuals with intellectual and other major disabilities and the impact that both state government and business can play in facilitating and advancing opportunities for these individuals to be gainfully employed.
(Related: Family Caregiver Distress Assessment)
The effort will provide governors and other state policymakers with improved policy options to assess the environment in their state and strategies designed to support this population. Major emphasis will be placed on those with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities and could require supports like job coaches and personal attendants.
Christopher J. Berry is an elder law attorney Dedicated to helping seniors, veterans and their families navigate the long-term care maze. To learn more visit http://www.theeldercarefirm.com/ or call 248.481.4000
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