LTC
Bullet: What Have You Done
for Me Lately? Tuesday, December 11, 2007 Seattle-- LTC Comment: Our
annual recounting of the Center's efforts toward better long-term care
financing policy and our appeal for your new or continued support
follows the ***news.*** *** SHELTON TRAINING APPROVED. Center for Long-Term Care Reform member and financial
supporter Phyllis Shelton announced yesterday that her LTC partnership
training packages have been approved in many states.
Check out the details at www.ltcitraining.com.
For more information, contact:
Bill Pomakoy, 866-400-5224, info@ltcitraining.com.
*** *** POPULAR RESOURCE UPDATED. To obtain a free copy of the newly revised "Since You
Care" guide titled Hiring an Independent Caregiver, call
(203) 221-6580, send an e-mail to maturemarketinstitute@metlife.com,
or download it at www.maturemarketinstitute.com
under 'What's New.' *** *** PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MENTIONS LTC.
It's a first, but "where's the beef?"
$5 billion to make LTCi affordable AND give tax relief to
caregivers, as she promises elsewhere?
Last time a bill to do those things was introduced in Congress,
CBO priced it at close to $40 billion.
Oh well, at least LTC is near the stove, if not on a front
burner. "Clinton proposes $5 billion a year quality
long-term Care agenda.
MSNBC. Dec 9, 2007 'It’s
time for a new beginning and a new approach to helping Americans grow
old with dignity,' Clinton said. 'I’m going to let Americans purchase
the same kind of long-term health care policies that members of Congress
can choose from, because members of Congress have good options and they
are safe and secure policies.'"
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/09/506617.aspx
*** CLTCR'S REPLY TO CREW: Published December 7, 2007 as an LTC E-Alert for Center
members and on the LTC Blog at www.centerltc.com:
LTC Comment: What
better time than Pearl Harbor Day for us to fend off another
underhanded, irresponsible, totally unfounded attack? This time, CREW (AKA the Committee for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington), has sent a letter to the NAIC
and to the State Medicaid directors association calling Steve Moses a
"shill" for the insurance industry.
The letter advises those organizations not to meet with me during
the Center for Long-Term Care Reform's National Long-Term Care
Consciousness Tour. What a hoot! A
big, richly funded, political hate group attacks little old me.
Here's the irony. Our tiny Center squeaks by with precious little support from
any source, including the insurance industry.
And, besides, our mission is not even about selling insurance! Rather, the Center for Long-Term Care Reform fights
to save Medicaid as a long-term care safety net for the poor. Toward that end we advocate responsible LTC planning, an
important part of which is saving, investing and insuring against the
LTC risk. That noble mission is in fact what CREW is
attacking. And here's the
proof. ElderLawAnswers, a company of, by, and for Medicaid
estate planning attorneys, has passed on CREW's silly accusations in its
email newsletter. No group
does more damage to America's LTC service delivery and financing system
than these Medicaid planners and their allies in the blogosphere. And where does their money come from to finance
these attacks on the Center? From
overloading Medicaid with their affluent clients at the expense of
taxpayers and the poor. No
wonder they discourage private insurance and responsible LTC planning. My reaction to all this?
"Nobody tries to shoot down somebody who already is,"
as sales trainer Tommy Hopkins likes to say. So bring it on!
There's no such thing as bad publicity.
When CREW and ElderLawAnswers attack me and the Center, it drives
eyeballs to our website at www.centerltc.com.
Once there, allies and doubters alike find hard evidence and
solid reasoning to support our views and mission. *** LTC BULLET: WHAT
HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY? LTC Comment: Thanks
to the support of our individual and corporate members, 2007 has been a
very productive and successful year for your Center for Long-Term Care
Reform. Today's LTC Bullet will list some of the year's
accomplishments and direct you to helpful new content on the Center's
website at www.centerltc.com. But the job that must be done is by no means
finished. Our mission is to
achieve universal access to top quality long-term care at the most
appropriate level for all Americans. We pursue that mission by encouraging most people
to plan, save, invest and insure to pay for their own long-term care as
a means to preserve and improve Medicaid as a LTC safety net for the
needy. Won't you help us carry on this important mission
for another year? Join the
Center. Read our
publications. Share them
with others, especially local reporters and public policy makers.
Get involved with our 2008 LTC Tour. 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. Together we have made a difference this year.
We can again. 2008 is a year of enormous opportunity for accomplishing our
objectives. Plans for the
National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour are coming together
beautifully. Big news on
that soon. But for now, let's look back on 2007. -------------- Links to Highlights: Reports:
KANSAS:
"Medicaid's Raw Deal: How
Kansans Subsidize Wealthier States Through the Federal Medical
Assistance Percentage," Policy Brief, Flint Hills Center For Public
Policy, Wichita, Kansas, August 16, 2007, access
here or http://www.centerltc.com/pubs/Medicaids_Raw_Deal.pdf. NEW
YORK: "The New York
Long-Term Care Compact Proposal: Update,
Analysis and Recommendations," http://www.centerltc.com/pubs/NY_Compact.pdf Media: Jane Bryant Quinn's Newsweek column quoted
Steve Moses and cited the Center for Long-Term Care Reform, "How
You Can Pay for Costly Old-Age Care," Newsweek, March
26, 2007. Publications: Stephen A.
Moses, “The Brave New World of Long-Term Care,” Notre Dame
Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy, Volume 21, Issue No. 2,
2007, pps. 561-569, http://www.centerltc.com/pubs/Articles/Brave_New_World_of_LTC.pdf.
Speeches: Stephen Moses, "What's Really Happening to
Long-Term Care," delivered at the Seventh Annual Intercompany
Long-Term Care Insurance Conference in Dallas on March 27, 2007, for
text: http://www.centerltc.com/speakers/whats_really_happening.htm.
To listen, click for an MP3
or WMA audio
recording of this speech. Webinars: "Maximize
the Value of WWW.CENTERLTC.COM?":
a full hour on how to get the most of the Center's content-rich
public and private websites at https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/549197239.
"The
LTC Graduate Seminar": This
half-hour webinar describes the Center's new online version of our
highly acclaimed eight-hour seminar for advanced students of long-term
care service delivery and financing:
http://www.centerltc.com/WebinarAnnouncingLTCGradSem.wmv Recognition: Senior Market Advisor named Steve Moses to
its top-ten "Power List" in long-term care insurance.
Find pictures and story here.
2008 LTC Tour: Read about our plans for the 2008 National
Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour and view a picture of the "Silver
Bullet of Long-Term Care" at the top of www.centerltc.com. -------------- Details: Center president Stephen Moses published 13 bylined
articles in 2007. Five 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 http://www.centerltc.com/pubs/Articles/Index.htm.
The Center for Long-Term Care Reform published 66 LTC
Bullets so far in 2007 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 by date and subject at http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/index.htm. The Center published 144 LTC E-Alerts so far
in 2007 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 http://www.centerltc.com/members/ltc_week_in_review.htm.
(If you need a reminder of your user name and password, contact Damon@centerltc.com
or call 206-283-7036.) The Center was referenced and Steve Moses was
quoted in numerous published articles including Jane Bryant Quinn's Newsweek
column and the Dallas Morning News. Senior Market Advisor named Steve to its
top-ten Power List in long-term care insurance.
Find pictures and story here.
Reporters from many prominent news outlets continue
to interview Steve Moses on long-term care financing issues.
Watch for special features about the Center for Long-Term Care
Reform's National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour forthcoming in Broker
World, Life Insurance Selling, McKnight's Long-Term Care
News, Assisted Living Executive magazine, and in February,
2008 an interview and video in the Wall Street Journal. Steve gave ten speeches in 2007 to a wide range of
conferences and organizations including state legislative testimony in
Texas and Kansas, LTCi producers and executives, reverse mortgage
specialists, long-term care providers, senior advocates and Wharton
Business School students. Check
out examples of Steve's speeches at http://www.centerltc.com/speakers/center_speeches.htm. He gave less formal "briefings" on
long-term care financing 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
New York and in North Carolina (with the John Locke Foundation
Foundation.) Check out our
report on the New York LTC Compact proposal at http://www.centerltc.com/pubs/NY_Compact.pdf.
Many more of the Center's formal long-term care studies are at http://www.centerltc.com/reports.htm. 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 contribute critically to the
Center's ability to hang on financially and continue to pursue our
common mission. So here's to a hugely successful 2007 and a highly hopeful 2008 with your help and support. |