LTC
Bullet: LTC Blues in the
Empire State Thursday, October 5, 2006 Seattle-- LTC Comment: New
York State is a model of what not to do about long-term care financing.
We can learn as much from negative role models as positive ones.
Read and hear Steve Moses's remarks on LTC in NY after the
***news.*** *** PODCASTS.
We've added a new feature to the Center's Members-Only website,
AKA "The Zone." Nowadays,
most folks have "MP3" players.
Great for music, but these little electronic gems are also a
godsend for using down time to keep up with great ideas of all
varieties: sales,
inspiration, news, and analysis to name a few.
Our first podcast is an interview by Steve Moses with Aegis
Living's CEO Dwayne Clark at the National Investment Center's (www.nic.org)
conference in Chicago last week. Clark's
senior living company was ranked the fastest growing small company in
the country by Inc. magazine three years ago.
You'll know why when you listen to this interview.
Check it out at http://www.centerltc.com/members/podcasts/index.htm
. We'll add new podcasts periodically and let you
know when we do in this space. *** *** ZONED OUT?
No worries, Zone In easily.
Just contact Damon at damon@centerltc.com
or 206-283-7036 and join the Center.
Annual individual memberships are $150.
Corporate and organizational memberships covering everyone on
your team are negotiable. As
soon as you say "the check's in the mail," Damon will assign
your user name and password and you'll be in The Zone with access to its
many features including the new podcast.
You'll also receive our LTC Bullets online newsletter
and/or our daily LTC E-Alerts:
as much or as little as you choose to receive.
What's more, you'll be part of our fight for rational long-term
care public policy. Join the team. Join
the Center today. *** *** METLIFE
MARKET SURVEY OF NURSING HOME & HOME CARE COSTS.
No doubt you've already seen this news elsewhere.
Just a heads up therefore that we keep a link to these annual
surveys in The Zone so you can find each year's report quickly and
easily after time passes and they're no longer in the news.
Center members check it out at http://www.centerltc.com/members/ltccostsurveys.htm.
Non-members: JOIN! The
average daily cost of a private room in a nursing home rose from $203 to
$206 per day last year. The average annual cost increased by 1.5 percent
to $75,190. Average
semi-private room rates rose 3.9 percent from $176 to $183 per day. Find
the MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home & Home Care Costs at: http://www.metlife.com/WPSAssets/18756958281159455975V1F2006NHHCMarketSurvey.pdf
*** LTC BULLET: LTC
BLUES IN THE EMPIRE STATE The Manhattan Institute's Empire Center for New
York State Policy conducted a forum on Medicaid reform September 26,
2006 in Albany, NY. Hear Steve Moses's presentation on long-term care
financing in New York at http://www.empirecenter.org/mp3/Moses.mp3.
(If this audio file won't start by clicking on it, cut and paste
it into your media player.) Read a Times Union article about the program
at http://www.empirecenter.org/2006/09/experts_at_empi.php. Check out the details about all speakers and their
presentations on the Empire Center's website at http://www.empirecenter.org/2006/09/experts_at_empi.php. Following are some excerpts from Steve's speech
outline to give you the gist of his presentation. -------------- "New
York and Long-Term Care Financing" by Stephen A. Moses presented to
the Empire Center for New York State Policy's conference on "Health
Policy Issues and Options for New York:
What Can We Learn from Other States?" in Albany, New York on
September 26, 2006. New York is a LTC Basket Case Distinctive
Facts re NY (most from AARP "Across the States" report) o
Between 2002 and 2020, NY's % of population 85 plus will grow
from 1.7% to 2.3% o
New York is Number 1 on these categories:
- Total Medicaid
Spending: $38.5 billion
(2003) o
Medicaid nursing home reimbursement rate:
$172 (2002) o
Very low estate recoveries:
.27% of LTC costs; rank 37 o
Spousal refusal o
No TOA for home care o
LTC Compact - $330K or half assets pledged; lock in heavy
government financing; unsupportable for long-term o
Worst fact: I have
to pay half the cost as a federal taxpayer! Following
this set up, Steve analyzed the problem and presented these
recommendations: o
The State of New York should conduct a top-to-bottom review of
Medicaid long-term care eligibility, coverage, services, and estate
recoveries. o
The county-administered system in New York creates problems and
complications that need to be monitored more closely, documented
thoroughly, and corrected where possible. o
The state should put an end to the "Spousal Refusal"
eligibility dodge by pursuing its subrogated right to litigate on its
and the Medicaid recipient's behalf in all such cases.
o
New York should study and document the practice of Medicaid
estate planning, develop hard-dollar estimates of the cost to state and
federal taxpayers (who each pay half the cost of Medicaid), and close
eligibility "loopholes" that can be controlled at the state
level. o
New York should aggressively implement the new DRA statutory
authorities to help the state control its Medicaid long-term care
eligibility hemorrhage. Also,
apply TOA rules to home care. o
The state should mount a public relations campaign to educate the
public that long-term care is a personal responsibility for which public
financing will become less and less available as time goes on. o New York should encourage the purchase of private LTC insurance and the use of home equity conversion (e.g. reverse mortgages) to pay for long-term care. |