LTC Bullet: Newspaper Coverage of LTC Tour Event

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Freehold, New Jersey (LTC Tour Mile #12,988; State #22)--

LTC Comment: Story and a photo about a LTC Tour event in Pennsylvania after the ***news.***

*** TODAY'S LTC BULLET is sponsored by Peter S. Gelbwaks. June 22nd, 2008 marks the one year anniversary of LTC Global's acquisition of Gelbwaks Insurance Services, Inc. "This past year has been remarkable in both Acquisition activity and Organic growth for the LTC Global Family," says Peter Gelbwaks, Chairman of Gelbwaks Insurance Services and Senior VP of LTC Global. "We expect the coming year to be even better, a record-breaking period for our operation," states Gelbwaks. ***

*** TO SPONSOR AN LTC BULLET and get your name and message before thousands of the best-informed LTC professionals in the country, contact Damon at 206-283-7036 or damon@centerltc.com. Sponsoring a Bullet is good business for you and it helps the Center for Long-Term Care Reform conduct our research, implement our advocacy for responsible long-term care planning, and carry out our 2008 LTC Tour mission. ***

*** SNEAK PEEK. Dues-paying Center members receive daily LTC E-Alerts. These one-a-day mental vitamins help keep our members at the peak of professional knowledge and competency. But LTC E-Alerts also provide in-depth coverage of the National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour. You must be a member of the Center to receive these missives, but today, we're making an exception. Click here to find yesterday's LTC E-Alert with links to pictures, video interviews and an update on the LTC Tour. ***

LTC BULLET: NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF LTC TOUR EVENT

LTC Comment: Kudos to Tracy Russo of HTA Financial for organizing the full-day "LTC Expo" held in Exton, Pennsylvania on June 5, 2008.

In addition to my two-hour presentation, described in the story below, the audience of over 100 heard from . . .

. . . Ms. Russo on the basics of LTC planning and insurance,

. . . from Olympic-gold-medal-winner Wendy Boglioli on principles of fiscal and physical well-being, and

… from gerontologist Kathy O'Brien of the MetLife Mature Market Institute on aging demographics.

It was a great day across the board. Here's how reporter Gretchen Metz of the "Daily Local" captured the event. View the photo in this story.

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CENTER FOR LONG-TERM CARE REFORM PRESIDENT VISITS COUNTY

By GRETCHEN METZ, Staff Writer

Long-term care discussed at professional expo

Staff photo by Larry McDevitt: Steve Moses stands beside his Silver Bullet outside the 2008 LTC Professional Expo at the Inn at Chester Springs in Uwchlan.

People are living longer, dying slower and spending more money to do it.

It is a grim message, but Stephen Moses delivers it routinely as he travels the country on his 2008 National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour.

Moses is the president of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform, a Seattle-based advocacy group that promotes universal LTC planning with privately funded insurance coverage as an alternative to Medicaid or Medicare.

Thursday he made his presentation to a banquet room packed with insurance professionals at the Inn of Chester Springs at the 2008 LTC Professional Expo sponsored by HTA Financial Services of West Chester.

According to Moses, the aging American consumer has any number of excuses for not buying LTC insurance, from denial that they will get old, to fear of the costs, to "my kids will take care of me." Finally, they say if they ever do need a nursing home, "I'll shoot myself first," Moses said.

"By the time you need to use it, you'll have forgotten why you bought the gun and where you hide the bullets," Moses said. "And you'll probably have your stroke on a cruise where you can't bring a gun, anyway."

Moses, an engaging speaker who spoke without notes, often used humor to get his point across.

LTC insurance policies should sell easily. You would think it would be a no-brainer, Moses continued. One out of 10 people will need LTC. Americans buy homeowner's insurance and by no means do one of 10 houses burn down.

Moses started his tour in Florida in January, towing his "silver bullet" with him. It has nothing to do with the Lone Ranger or vampires; the silver bullet is Moses' attention-getting Air Stream travel trailer.

"I paid $70,000 for it out of my own pocket," Moses said about the travel trailer in which he lives during his tour.

Moses founded his company as a nonprofit, but said he couldn't pay the bills. While the company is now officially for-profit, Moses said, it would be more accurate to call it no-profit. He has a few corporate sponsors as evidenced by the MetLife, Prudential and other insurance company logos on his silver bullet.

Moses said he will end his tour in Seattle in December.

Moses is a former senior analyst for the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a former Medicaid state representative for the Health Care Financing Administration.

He has directed numerous studies for the federal government, state governments and private think tanks on nursing home eligibility, asset transfer, estate recoveries and long-term care financing.

Moses's tour goal is to motivate public policy changes that would move LTC in America from a "wobbly welfare base" to a solid foundation in private insurance.

For more information on long-term care issues, visit www.longtermcare.gov, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site.