LTC
Bullet: LTC Tour Financial
Update Thursday, October 25, 2007 Seattle-- LTC Comment: Support
for the Center's 2008 National LTC Wake-Up Tour is surging.
When costs are covered, fundraising ends, and we'll focus
exclusively on the mission. So,
get on board now! Details
after the ***news.*** *** CREW cut.
A few of you have brought to our attention a letter from Citizens
for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to Senator Charles
Grassley (R-IA) requesting that he "investigate the activities of
the Seattle-based Center for Long-Term Care Reform and the Center's
director Stephen Moses."
The letter claims I'm a "shill" for the LTC insurance
industry. Truth is, our
goal is to save Medicaid as a safety net for the poor by encouraging
middle-class and affluent people to plan responsibly for long-term care.
But, this isn't the first time my words have been "twisted
by knaves to make a trap for fools."
It won't be the last. In the meantime, we welcome all the new
"eyeballs" attracted to the Center's website by CREW's
misguided attack. Friends
and enemies alike will find solid research, hard evidence, and
indisputable reasoning at www.centerltc.com.
That's what always carries the day in the end.
And we owe CREW special thanks for encouraging Senator Grassley
and the Senate Finance Committee to review and consider the Center for
Long-Term Care Reform's findings and recommendations on long-term care
policy. That kind of
attention is difficult to attract and we welcome it. Finally, as master salesman Tommy Hopkins used to
say: "Nobody tries to
shoot down someone who already is."
So we must be doing something right! *** *** 2008
INTERCOMPANY LONG TERM CARE INSURANCE CONFERENCE. It's on for March 16-19, 2008 in Jacksonville, Florida.
This is the premier LTC insurance industry conference with
intensive sessions on many topics, including a track on Policy and
Providers. I'll be there
with the "Silver Bullet of Long-Term Care," on the premises if
they'll let me. We need to
ask. Registration will be
available soon at the conference website:
www.iltciconf.org.
Government employees get a discounted registration rate.
I hope to see you all there. *** ***
LTCI PRODUCERS SUMMIT. And
don't forget the other great LTCi conference.
The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI)
offers the 7th LTCi National Producers Summit February 24-26,
2008 at the Omni Hotel at CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
The 3-day conference features outstanding sessions with many of
the nation's leading LTC experts. Early
registration is an affordable $295 (all attendees must be Association
members, which is only $49 for one year).
Complete information including the program and registration
information is available online at http://www.aaltci.org/2008summit
or by calling the Association at (818) 597-3227.
I'll be there too and we're negotiating now with the hotel for
the possibility of positioning the "Silver Bullet of LTC"
prominently. *** ***
Do you get the impression we're proud at the Center for Long-Term Care
Reform to be advocates for private long-term care insurance as a means
to save Medicaid for the needy? Good,
we are! *** LTC BULLET: LTC
TOUR FINANCIAL UPDATE LTC Comment: Center
members and readers of our LTC Blog know I'll be on the road full time
next year playing "Paul Revere" on the long-term care
financing issue. For all the details, see the four LTC Bullets about
the National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour at the top of www.centerltc.com. While you're there, click on the "Silver
Bullet of Long-Term Care," a picture of the Titanium-Metallic FJ
Cruiser and Airstream trailer combination that will carry this
"Lone Ranger of LTC" (if you prefer that metaphor tagged on me
my a magazine once) from place to place and provide my habitation
throughout 2008. We've asked dozens of companies and individuals to
support the "LTC Tour," and so far the response has been
spectacular. Interest in becoming a Regional Representative of
the Center in local areas is high and increasing rapidly.
We're asking Regional Reps to pledge $500 payable two months
before I visit their region. That
guarantees I'll work with the Reps to plan events in their town; that I
will visit their town with the Silver Bullet of LTC; and that we'll work
together while I'm there to raise public awareness about the LTC issue
and hopefully protect a lot more people against that risk and cost. Invitations to speak at events when I'll be in
their neighborhood are pouring in from individuals, organizations and
companies across the country. Some
of these invitations come with funding to cover costs.
Others are invitations in search of funding for which we're
seeking sponsors. Instead
of the usual $5,000 flat fee to bring me in from Seattle for a speech,
we're offering an 80% discount if you can schedule your event while I'm
traveling through anyway. Here's my general itinerary. Southeast: FL,
GA, AL, MS, SC, NC, TN (7
states: January, February) Southwest: TX,
NM, AZ, CO, UT, OK, AR, LA (8 states:
March, April) Central East:
VA, WV, MD, DE, PA, NJ, DC (7 states:
May, June) Northeast: NY,
CT, RI, MA, VT, NH, ME (7
states: July, August) Midwest: IL,
IN, OH, IA, MI, KY, MO, MN, ND, SD, KS, NE, WI
(13 states: September,
October) West: CA,
NV, OR, WA, ID, MT, WY, AK, HI (9
states: November, December) Precisely when I will be where depends on who
sponsors the Tour and/or schedules an event.
For now, we know for sure I'll be in Tampa, Florida the first
week of January 2008 to hook up the new Airstream trailer. Additional events have already been scheduled in
Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey.
As more plans firm up, we'll provide specifics on when I'll be
where. But by then,
newcomers to the Tour will have to plan around the set schedule. Right now is the only time virtually the whole calendar year
is open. Those of you good friends of the Center who know me
and support our common mission understand I hate fund-raising and would
do nothing but research and advocacy if that were possible. In other words: "It's
the mission, not the money. But,
alas, no money, no mission." So
here's where things stand on the financial front. The Center for Long-Term Care Reform's total annual
budget is usually between $200,000 and $225,000.
That includes everything: salaries,
travel expenses, professional fees, taxes, the works.
Next year, I think we need to raise a total of $250,000 to cover
normal expenses plus extra costs incidental to the "LTC Tour." If our primary financing sources, which include
corporate and individual memberships in the Center, remain the same in
2008 as they were in 2007, we'll have a base of $136,000 on which to
start. I can't count our other major source of funding,
roughly $60,000 per year from contracts for my consulting, speaking and
writing, because I won't be available for major, time-consuming projects
in 2008. We'll have to make
this funding up next year through Tour pledges and event fees. So, here's the bottom line:
assuming we can count on corporate and individual membership
support at 2007 levels, we need an additional $114,000 ($250K minus
$136K) to cover the tour. We've
already garnered $17,500 in pledges and event fee commitments in the
first few days of fundraising. So
that leaves less than $100,000 to close the gap. $100,000: That's
our goal for now. We
already have the funds saved to purchase the Airstream trailer.
I cut my salary in half last February to build a capital fund for
that purpose. I'll also
cover the upfront cost for the tow vehicle for the "Silver
Bullet." That is my
personal financial commitment to the success of the LTC Tour.
That and the risk I'm taking if others don't come through. A small risk, I'm confident, but scary nonetheless. Now here's our "ask": Look at the general schedule above.
See if you can schedule and fund an event ($1,000) in those time
frames. Let me know at smoses@centerltc.com.
We'll put you on the itinerary. Or, pledge $500 payable two months before I visit
your area. That guarantees
we'll work together to plan mutually beneficial activities while I'm in
your area. We may, and
hopefully will, do more but we will at least spend a day in your area
beating the drum for LTC planning and hopefully helping you protect more
people against the risk and cost of LTC. Another option available to companies and
organizations is to sponsor the LTC Tour at levels from $1,000 to
$10,000 (or more). That'll
get you signage recognition on the "Silver Bullet of LTC" and
an equivalent amount of my time to work with your representatives around
the country on training, public presentations, briefings, etc. Fair warning:
as soon as I'm confident we've raised all the money needed to
cover costs of the LTC Tour, I'll be doing no more fund raising.
We'll add no more sponsors or Regional Representatives.
The whole focus from that time on will be to fulfill the LTC
Tour's objective: to raise
public awareness about the importance of long-term care planning and
protect an extra 1000 people from the risk and cost of LTC. Frankly, that's when the fun begins.
Here's a list of possible activities, but don't feel limited to
it. If you sign on to work
with me on the Tour, we'll brainstorm together and, by Webinar with all
other Tour sponsors, to think up great ways to achieve our goals. Consulting Teaching the LTC Graduate Seminar in person AND
online Writing Op-Eds and newspaper articles for local
media Meeting with local reporters and/or newspaper
editorial boards Addressing estate planning councils Collaborating with financial planners, CPAs, and
estate planning attorneys Working with LTC providers (nursing homes, assisted
living facilities, home health agencies and the state affiliates of
their national trade associations, such as AHCA/NCAL, AAHSA, ALFA) Encouraging reverse mortgage lenders to consider
long-term care funding and LTCi premiums in their marketing Making political contacts with Governors, state
legislators, city council members, Congressional representatives, state
Insurance Commissioners, Medicaid directors and their staffs toward the
end of improving long-term care public policy Mobilizing local businesses, including banks and
other financial institutions, and the Chamber of Commerce to recognize
the importance of LTC planning Conducting studies with State Policy Network think
tanks like the ones who have sponsored Center for Long-Term Care Reform
reviews in Kansas, Texas and North Carolina recently Meeting with senior advocacy groups like the AARP,
Area Agencies on Aging, and the Aging Network to explain the benefits of
supplementing publicly financed LTC programs with private financing
alternatives Conducing public meetings or "group talks" in collaboration with LTCi producers and other senior advisors. |