LTC Bullet:  So What If the Government Pays for Most LTC?, 2005 Data Update 

Thursday, January 11, 2007 

Seattle-- 

LTC Comment:  Heads up!  We're about to explain why long-term care insurance sales have disappointed, why people don't "use their homes to stay at home" and why LTC providers who depend on public financing are at risk.  After the really big ***news.*** 

*** NEW MEMBERS-ONLY FEATURE.  Medicaid "spousal impoverishment" numbers change every year with inflation.  Do you have the latest figures for 2007?  How about every change in the numbers since 1991?  The CSRA (community spouse resource allowance) that was $66,480 in 1991 is $101,640 today.  The "income cap" that was $1,221 in 1991 is $1,869 today.  If you're a dues-paying member of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform or affiliated with a corporate member of the Center, all these numbers are at your fingertips.  Check 'em out at http://www.centerltc.com/members/medicaid_and_medicare_key_numbers.htm. *** 

*** MEDICARE DATA.  Or how about the Medicare Part B premium?  It was $36.60 in 1993, but it's $93.50 today.  And that's only if you don't have a high income!  This year, for the first time, higher income people have to pay a higher Part B premium, as much as $161.40 per month.  So long social insurance.  Hello Medicare welfarization.  (See LTC E-Alert #6-098:  Medicare is Welfare Now Too, Wednesday, October 4, 2006, http://www.centerltc.com/members/e-alerts/ltc_ea6-098.htm.)  For all the Medicare deductible and co-insurance numbers from 1993 to 2007, go to http://www.centerltc.com/members/medicaid_and_medicare_key_numbers.htm.  *** 

*** YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET.  Next week we'll launch "The Almanac of Long-Term Care."  This new members-only feature will help you home in quickly and efficiently on whatever LTC data or analysis you need whenever you need it.  Within topic areas like "Aging Demographics," "Long-Term Care Insurance," "Caregiving," and many others, you'll find data summaries, article abstracts, hyperlinks to sources, and internal links to relevant LTC Bullets and E-Alerts that provide perspective and critical analysis.  The LTC Almanac will grow and change daily as we add new information and incorporate more and more historical data and sources.  We hope you love the Almanac, but it's for members only! *** 

*** NOT YET A MEMBER?  No worries.  Contact Damon at 206-283-7036 or damon@centerltc.com or join online at http://www.centerltc.com/support/index.htm.  Do it now while individual memberships are only $150 per year or $12.50 per month.  Soon we'll offer premium memberships at a higher cost (probably $240 per year or $20 per month).  Then, only premium members will have access to The Zone, including "The Almanac of Long-Term Care."  In the meantime, current members will automatically become premium members until their annual renewal.  So take advantage of this one-time opportunity to become a premium member of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform at the current rate for regular membership.  Renew your current membership at the current rate for as many years as you like and lock in your premium membership for that whole time!  More details will be coming soon on CLTCR premium memberships including new premium-member features designed to help you become the "go-to" person for long-term care in your locality. *** 

 

LTC BULLET:  SO WHAT IF THE GOVERNMENT PAYS FOR MOST LTC?, 2005 DATA UPDATE 

LTC Comment:  Once a year around this time the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) report health care expenditure data for the latest year of record.  Recently, CMS posted 2005 statistics on its website at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/tables.pdf

The current issue of Health Affairs (Vol. 26, Issue 1, pps. 142-153) contains a summary and analysis of the new data titled "National Health Spending in 2005:  The Slowdown Continues."  Registered subscribers to Health Affairs can access the full text of the article online at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/26/1/142.   

Following is our annual analysis of the new nursing home and home health care data. 

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"So What If the Government Pays for Most LTC?, 2005 Data Update"
by
Stephen A. Moses 

Ever wonder why LTC insurance sales and market penetration are so discouraging?  Or why reverse mortgages are rarely used to pay for long-term care?  Or why LTC service providers are always struggling to survive financially and still provide quality care?  Read on. 

America spent $121.9 billion on nursing home care in 2005.  The percentage of nursing home costs paid by Medicaid and Medicare has gone up over the past 35 years (from 26.8% in 1970 to 59.6% in 2005, up 32.8 % of the total) while out-of-pocket costs have declined (from 52.0% in 1970 to 26.5% in 2005, down 25.5% of the total).  Source:  http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/tables.pdf, Table 8. 

So what?  The consumer's liability for nursing home costs has declined almost by half in the past three and a half decades, while the share paid by Medicaid and Medicare has more than doubled.  

No wonder people are not as eager to buy LTC insurance as insurers would like them to be!  No wonder they don't use home equity for LTC when Medicaid exempts the home.  No wonder nursing homes are struggling financially--their dependency on stingy government reimbursements is increasing while their more profitable private payers are disappearing.  

Unfortunately, these problems are even worse than the preceding data suggest.  Over half of the so-called "out-of-pocket" costs reported by CMS are really just contributions toward their cost of care by people already covered by Medicaid!  These are not out-of-pocket costs in terms of ASSET spend down, but rather only INCOME, most of which comes from Social Security benefits, another government program.  Thus, although Medicaid pays less than half the cost of nursing home care (43.9% of the dollars in 2005), it covers two-thirds of all nursing home residents.  Because people in nursing homes on Medicaid tend to be long-stayers, Medicaid pays something toward nearly 80 percent of all patient days.  

So what?  Medicaid pays in full or subsidizes four-fifths of all nursing home patient days.  If it pays even one dollar per month (with the rest contributed from the recipient's income), the nursing home receives Medicaid's dismally low reimbursement rate.  

No wonder the public is not as worried about nursing home costs as LTC insurers think they should be.  No wonder nursing homes are facing insolvency all around the United States when so much of their revenue comes from Medicaid, often at reimbursement rates less than the cost of providing the care. 

Don't be fooled by the 7.5% of nursing home costs that CMS reports as having been paid by "private health insurance" in 2005.  They derive that number by subtracting all the known costs from 100% and reporting the remainder as private insurance.  No one knows how much private health insurance really pays toward nursing home care, because most long-term care insurance pays beneficiaries, not nursing homes.  Thus, a large proportion of insurance payments for nursing home care gets reported as if it were "out-of-pocket" payments because private payers write the checks to the nursing home but are reimbursed by their LTC insurance policies.  This fact further inflates the out-of-pocket figure artificially. 

How does all this affect assisted living facilities?  ALFs are 90% private pay and they cost an average of $35,616 per year (Source:  MetLife survey at http://www.metlife.com/WPSAssets/19759823911162238386V1F2006AssistedLivingStudy.pdf).  Many people who could afford assisted living by spending down their illiquid wealth, especially home equity, choose instead to take advantage of Medicaid nursing home benefits.  Medicaid exempts one home and all contiguous property (up to $500,000 or $750,000 depending on the state), plus one business, and one automobile of unlimited value, plus many other non-countable assets, not to mention sophisticated asset sheltering and divestment techniques marketed by Medicaid planning attorneys.  Income rarely interferes with Medicaid nursing home eligibility unless such income far exceeds the cost of private nursing home care.  

So what?  For most people, Medicaid nursing home benefits are easy to obtain without spending down assets significantly and Medicaid's income contribution requirement is usually much less expensive than paying the full cost of assisted living.  

No wonder ALFs are struggling to attract enough private payers to be profitable.  No wonder people are not as eager to buy LTC insurance as insurers would like them to be. 

The situation with home health care financing is very similar to nursing home financing.  According to CMS, America spent $47.5 billion on home health care in 2005.  Medicare (37.7%) and Medicaid (32.6%) paid 70.3% of this total and private insurance paid 12.2%.  Only 10.7% of home health care costs were paid out of pocket.  The remainder came from several small public and private financing sources.  Data source:  http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/tables.pdf, Table 10. 

So what?  Less than one out of every nine dollars spent on home health care comes out of the pockets of patients and a large portion of that comes from the income (not assets) of people already on Medicaid. 

No wonder the public does not feel the sense of urgency about this risk that long-term care insurers think they should.  

Bottom line, people only buy insurance against real financial risk.  As long as they can ignore the risk, avoid the premiums, and get government to pay for their long-term care when and if such care is needed, they will remain in "denial" about the need for LTC insurance.  As long as Medicaid and Medicare are paying for a huge proportion of all nursing home and home health care costs while out-of-pocket expenditures remain only nominal, nursing homes and home health agencies will remain starved for financial oxygen.   

The solution is simple.  Target Medicaid financing of long-term care to the needy and use the savings to fund education and tax incentives to encourage the public to plan early to be able to pay privately for long-term care.  For ideas and recommendations on how to implement this solution, see www.centerltc.com

Note especially "The Realist's Guide to Medicaid and Long-Term Care" at http://www.centerltc.org/realistsguide.pdf
and
"Aging America's Achilles' Heel:  Medicaid Long-Term Care" at http://www.centerltc.com/AgingAmericasAchillesHeel.pdf.  

Last year in the Deficit Reduction Act, Congress took some small steps toward addressing these problems.  A cap was placed on Medicaid's home equity exemption and several of the more egregious Medicaid planning abuses were ended.  But much more remains to be done.  With the Age Wave starting to crest and threatening to crash over the next three decades, we can only hope it isn't too late already. 

Stephen A. Moses is president of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform in Seattle, Washington.  The Center's mission is to ensure quality long-term care for all Americans.  Steve Moses writes, speaks and consults throughout the United States on long-term care policy.  He is the author of the study "Aging America's Achilles' Heel: Medicaid Long-Term Care," published by the Cato Institute (www.cato.org).  Learn more at www.centerltc.com or email smoses@centerltc.com.