LTC Bullet:  What Have You Done for Me Lately? 

Wednesday, December 13, 2006 

Seattle-- 

LTC Comment:  Our annual recounting of the Center's achievements toward better long-term care financing policy and our appeal for your new or continued support follows the ***news.*** 

*** LISTEN to Steve Moses's presentation on the Deficit Reduction Act and long-term care financing at the 2006 LTCi producers' summit last November in Austin, Texas.  Available to Center for Long-Term Care Reform members only at http://www.centerltc.com/members/podcasts/sm_on_dra.MP3.  Expect it to download for a few minutes before the speech begins.  Not a member of the Center?  Simple solution.  Contact Damon at 206-283-7036 or damon@centerltc.com to join. *** 

*** HEADS UP.  Don't miss The Seventh Annual Intercompany Long-Term Care Insurance Conference March 25 to March 28, 2007 at the Adams Mark Hotel in Dallas, Texas.  For details and to register, go to http://secure.lenos.com/lenos/soa/LTCI2007/. *** 

LTC BULLET:  WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY? 

LTC Comment:  Of course, the big news this year was passage of the Deficit Reduction Act.  The DRA made private long-term care insurance and reverse mortgages more attractive and Medicaid less desirable and achievable as LTC funding sources for middle class and affluent families.  The DRA was also a critical step toward preserving and improving Medicaid as a long-term care safety net for people truly in need. 

Your Center for Long-Term Care Reform played an important role in the design, advocacy, passage and defense of the Deficit Reduction Act.  I worked half time in Washington, DC for six months in 2005 briefing legislators, congressional staff, think tanks, trade associations, reporters and all manner of policy-makers on the need for new rules to discourage the abuse of Medicaid and to encourage more private financing of long-term care.  I testified at hearings of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the germane committee on Medicaid in the U.S. House of Representatives.  David Rosenfeld, who co-founded the Center with me in 1998, largely wrote the DRA provisions on Medicaid and LTC financing and he guided them toward successful passage through treacherous shoals of political sensitivity and opposition.

Pre- and post-passage of the DRA, the Center for Long-Term Care Reform kept up a steady series of LTC Bullets debunking specious criticism of the law from biased academic and government sources.  I testified in defense of a Congressman viciously and falsely attacked in the media for his support of the DRA.  We've done many speeches and teleconferences explaining the meaning and impact of the DRA for improving the long-term care insurance and reverse mortgage markets while relieving the fiscal burden on Medicaid.  The Center for Long-Term Care Reform completed a study of Medicaid and long-term care financing in Kansas that strongly recommended full implementation of the DRA.  We're now completing a similar study in Texas. 

Truly, thanks to your support, 2006 has been a very productive and successful year for your Center for Long-Term Care Reform.  But the job that must be done is by no means finished.  In fact, we've barely begun to save and improve Medicaid by persuading more people to plan, save, invest and insure to pay for their own long-term care. 

Won't you help us carry on this important mission for another?  Join the Center.  Read our publications.  Share them with others, especially local reporters and public policy makers.  Together we have made a difference this year.  We can again.  Annual dues are only $150 for individuals and negotiable for corporations and organizations.  Contact Damon at 206-283-7036 or damon@centerltc.com to join.  He'll quickly get you into "The Zone," in receipt of all our e-publications, and enjoying all the benefits of membership. 

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Now, here's a run down of some of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform's accomplishments in the past year. 

Center president Stephen Moses published 12 bylined articles in 2006.  Four of these articles were part of an 8-article series for the national newspaper Health Care News funded by a grant to the non-profit Heartland Institute by the Milbank Foundation for Rehabilitation.  Check out many of Steve's published articles at www.centerltc.com.   

The Center for Long-Term Care Reform published 69 LTC Bullets so far in 2006 and distributed them to all manner of public policy makers, reporters, academics, LTCi producers, reverse mortgage lenders, and other long-term care stakeholders.  Check out the LTC Bullets archives at www.centerltc.com

The Center published 126 LTC E-Alerts so far in 2006 and saw these "one-a-day mental vitamins" on long-term care elicit ever-increasing interest and feedback.  Check out archives of the LTC E-Alerts in the members-only zone at www.centerltc.com.  

The Center was referenced and Steve Moses was quoted in numerous published articles including pieces in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Dallas Morning News, the New York Daily News, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Kiplinger's Retirement Planning magazine, and the CQ (Congressional Quarterly) Researcher.   

Reporters from many prominent news outlets continue to interview Steve Moses on long-term care financing issues and he made several radio appearances in 2006 including an interview on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" show.  Check out our media section at www.centerltc.com

Steve gave eleven speeches in 2006 to a wide range of conferences and organizations including long-term care providers, LTCi producers, public policy think tanks, Congressional testimony, public welfare attorneys, Medicaid managed care companies, a Notre Dame law school symposium on aging.  Check out examples of Steve's speeches at www.centerltc.com

He gave less formal "briefings" on long-term care financing, with a focus on the Deficit Reduction Act's potential impact, to dozens of organizations and to many influential legislators and policy makers. 

The Center for Long-Term Care Reform conducted major state-level studies of Medicaid and long-term care financing in Kansas (with the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy) and in Texas (with the Texas Public Policy Foundation.)  Check out many of the Center's formal long-term care studies at www.centerltc.com.  

Finally, we recognize the Center's Administrative Coordinator Damon Moses for his yeoman's work editing and sending all our publications, keeping up the Center's huge and ever-growing website at www.centerltc.com, and for managing the Center's membership lists and financial support.  His dedication and hard work contributes critically to the Center's ability to hang on financially and continue to pursue our common mission. 

So here's to a hugely successful 2006 and a highly hopeful 2007 with your help and support.