LTC
Bullet: Center and Friends in the
Press
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Seattle--
LTC Comment: Earned
media trumps paid advertising every time as the Center for Long-Term Care Reform
and its supporters frequently demonstrate. Details after the ***news.***
***
LTCI PRODUCERS SUMMIT. Each year,
the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance and LTCi Sales
Strategies magazine convene a gathering of the nation's leading LTCi
producers and marketers. If you
want to take the pulse of the LTCi market, the Summit is a premier conference to
attend. The 2006 Summit will be
held November 5-7 at the Hilton Hotel in Austin, TX.
A limited number of FIRST TIME ATTENDEES can still register for $225
(regular Early Registration is $395). The
complete Summit program and details on the First Timers discounted fee can be
found on the Association's Website: http://www.aaltci.org/2006summit.
Center president Steve Moses is proud to be speaking again at this year's
Summit. He urges you to register
now. Don't delay, as the Summit has
sold out in prior years. ***
***
LONG-TERM CARE AWARENESS WEEK. The
first week of November is also Long-Term Care Awareness Week, an opportunity to
increase your exposure to consumers, policymakers and the media.
Find details about LTC Awareness Week on the website of its organizer,
the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, http://www.aaltci.org/subpages/updates/awareness_week/faq.html.
Available for all are Awareness Week logos to add to your E-mails and
artwork you can print out and use. Kudos
to AALTCI for creating this opportunity and the free tools to make the most of
it. ***
*** CENTER SUPPORTERS WHO PUBLISH will be recognized here
in the future. We'll announce your
article or media appearance in this space and provide a hyperlink to it when
available. But first we need to
know what you've done. Please send
copies of and/or links to your published materials or appearances to smoses@centerltc.com.
In the meantime, here are some items published by Center members
recently.
Jodi Anatole (of MetLife), "Private and Public Sectors
Join Forces to Create Affordable LTCI Options," Broker World, Vol.
26, No. 5, May 2006, pps. 24-28.
James Dove, "Understanding Preferred Health
Discounts," LTCi Sales Strategies, Vol. 8, No. 1, April/May/June
2006, pps. 12, 38.
Barry J. Fisher, "So You Think LTCI is Expensive?
Compared to What?," Broker World, Vol. 26, No. 5, May 2006,
pps. 30-34.
Ron R. Hagelman, Jr., "A Difficult Proposition," Broker
World, Vol. 26, No. 5, May 2006, pps. 82-3.
Allen Hamm, editor
and author, Long-Term Care Planning: Assuring
Choice, Independence and Financial Security, Plan Ahead, Inc., 2005.
Order this book by calling 800-400-0577.
It contains a chapter by Stephen Moses titled "The Coming Challenge
of Long-Term Care," pps. 253-261.
Claude Thau, "Small Differences Equal Big Marketing
Opportunities," LTCi Sales Strategies, Vol. 8, No. 1, April/May/June
2006, p. 10.
Valerie VanBooven, "The Reverse Mortgage Opportunity
for LTCi Producers," LTCi Sales Strategies, Vol. 8, No. 1,
April/May/June 2006, p. 25.
LTC Comment: We
are proud of the people, companies and organizations that support the Center for
Long-Term Care Reform. They include
many of the most knowledgeable, articulate and well-published people in the
field of long-term care. Thank you
for the important work you do and for the extra efforts you take to inform and
educate the rest of us with your publications.
LTC BULLET: CENTER
AND FRIENDS IN THE PRESS
LTC Comment: So
far this year, I've done twelve media interviews and the Center for Long-Term
Care Reform has been quoted and cited in ten articles that we know about.
Publications that have covered our message include the Wall Street
Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the Dallas
Morning News, Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, McKnight's
Long-Term Care News, Assisted Living Executive, and several others.
When you have a small budget but a big message, nothing helps more than a
national media megaphone.
Today, we highlight three recent articles that cite the
Center for Long-Term Care Reform and help convey our message.
Citations and excerpts follow.
-----------
Mary Beth Franklin, "Medicaid Gets Tough:
Prepare to Pay for Your Own Long-Term Care," Kiplinger's
Retirement Planning, Fall 2006, pps. 100-103; this is a reprint of the
article originally published in the May 2006 issue of Kiplinger's Personal
Finance magazine.
After she explains the Medicaid eligibility changes in the
Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which were intended to target the welfare
program's LTC benefits to the needy and encourage others to pay privately for
long-term care with insurance, reverse mortgages or savings, the author writes:
"That’s exactly as it should be, says Stephen Moses,
president of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform, a Seattle advocacy group that
has led the charge for tougher rules that restrict Medicaid to the truly poor
instead of allowing it to be used as what Moses calls inheritance insurance for
baby-boomers. He says Americans can
no longer ignore the stupendous costs of nursing-home care or count on a
government bailout. 'There is no
more free lunch for long-term care,' says Moses, who believes that unless things
change, the future needs of today’s middle-aged baby-boomers will destroy an
already overburdened Medicaid system.
"Whether you believe families should be able to
preserve assets for an inheritance or think it’s only fair that they spend
those assets on a family member who requires a nursing-home stay, the new
Medicaid-reform law alters how you should plan for long-term care and how you
will have to pay for it. IF YOU
DON’T OWN A LONG-TERM-CARE INSURANCE POLICY--OR IF YOU REJECTED THE IDEA
BEFORE--YOU SHOULD SERIOUSLY CONSIDER GETTING ONE NOW."
(pps. 87-88, emphasis added)
-----------
Anya
Martin, "Medicaid Matters," Assisted Living Executive, Vol. 13,
No. 4, May 2006, pps. 16-24. Excerpts:
"Perhaps
the biggest news for assisted living providers is the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA)
of 2005, which passed Congress and was signed into law by President George W.
Bush in February, says Stephen A. Moses, president of the Seattle-based Center
for Long-Term Care Reform, Inc."
"'For
the last 40 years, it's been very easy for the public to ignore the risk of
long-term care, to avoid making any plans and wait and see if they get sick,'
Moses says. 'If they do, they
qualified easily for Medicaid nursing home care.
You could hire an attorney and be on Medicaid in thirty days.'
"Previously,
a senior's home, no matter its value, was exempt from consideration for Medicaid
qualification, and the asset look-back period for eligibility was only three
years. Under the DRA, the home
equity exemption is limited to $500,000 and the asset look-back period is
extended to five years. A host of
other 'loopholes' has been eliminated, such as 'transfer assets before income,'
'Medicaid-friendly annuities,' 'life estates,' 'partial month transfers,' and
'self-canceling installment notes,' notes Moses in the March 9 edition of LTC
Bullets, the newsletter of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform. . . .
"These
tighter rules . . . preserve Medicaid as a safety net for those who truly need
it and protect Medicaid's fiscal viability in the face of rapidly mounting
medical expenses and the aging of the baby boomer generation, Moses says.´. . .
"But
while Congress had cost-cutting in mind, the implications for assisted living
are 'wondrously positive,' Moses says. Now
forced to pay for their care, more seniors who qualify for assisted living may
choose it. They may save or invest
their money in anticipation of covering those costs.
They may also be more likely to purchase long-term care insurance, which
can be applied to assisted living, or to take out a reverse mortgage, the
proceeds of which can be used to pay for assisted living.
With other options out there, such as home health care, assisted living
providers would be wise to consider this possible new resident pool in their
marketing strategies, as well as urging their state legislatures to enforce the
DRA rules.
"With 2006 an election year, Moses does not predict any further tightening of rules immediately nor perhaps even before the 2008 presidential election. However, as the baby boomers age, he thinks that Congress will pass more Medicaid eligibility restrictions, reducing asset and home equity levels further, perhaps in 2010-11."
-----------
Susan
Konig, "HHS Reports Medicaid Estate Recovery Low, Varies from State to
State," Health Care News, Heartland Institute, April 26, 2006,
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=18936.
Excerpt:
"The current HHS brief illustrates 'why most assets disappear before
state Medicaid programs' half-hearted recovery efforts, which are further
hamstrung by arbitrary federal rules, are even attempted,' said Stephen Moses,
president of the Center for Long Term Care [Reform].
'One couldn't ask for a better argument to reduce Medicaid's outrageously
high asset exemptions and exclusions so that resources are spent for quality
long-term care in the private market before people become dependent on public
welfare programs. Such programs are
often unequipped to operate business-like recovery programs.'
"Kansas,
Minnesota, Oregon, and a handful of other states operate relatively successful
Medicaid estate recovery programs 'in spite of the obstacles put in their way by
federal regulations and Medicaid planners,' Moses said."
LTC
Comment: Just imagine how many more
people would plan responsibly for long-term care by purchasing insurance or
using their home equity to purchase top-quality services in the private market
if Medicaid weren't giving away the product and failing to recover from
recipients' estates as mandated by federal law.
Reminder: When you see the Center for Long-Term Care Reform cited in a published article, please let us know. You can email smoses@centerltc.com or simply reply to any LTC Bullet or LTC E-Alert. And, again, when you publish something yourself, let us know so we can recognize your contribution in an LTC Bullet.