LTC Bullet: An LTC Tour Retrospective

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Seattle--

LTC Comment: Reminisce with me about the 2008 National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour, after the ***news.***

*** BIG INDUSTRY CONFERENCE: The Ninth Annual Intercompany Long Term Care Insurance Conference will be held from March 29 to April 1, 2009 at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. For information and registration, go to www.ILTCIconf.org. Organizers strongly recommend early hotel reservations. Don't miss this meeting. I'll be there speaking on the assigned topic: "Can LTCI Really Work?"

Want to see the Silver Bullet of Long-Term Care there in Reno also? Sponsor a special LTC Mini-Tour and you can have your company's "hospitality suite" in the long-term care industry's most famous vehicle. And on the way down and back to Seattle, I'll do as many speaking events, press conferences, or media appearances as you can pull together. Interested? Contact Damon at 206-283-7036 or damon@centerltc.com. ***

*** MUST READ. The Center for Strategic and International Studies' Global Aging Initiative announced yesterday that Richard Jackson and Neil Howe's piece titled "The World Won't Be Aging Gracefully. Just the Opposite" appeared in The Washington Post on Sunday, January 4, 2009, page B01. Read it! These are two of the best authors on aging demographics. Don't miss this excellent article and check out my interview with Richard Jackson about his latest book from last Summer when the LTC Tour passed through Washington, DC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keiY4wriYHM&feature=channel_page. ***

*** WSJ TODAY. Here's another must read: "Funding Senior Living in an Economic Downturn," by Victoria E. Knight, Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2009 in "Personal Finance" section at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123117048595753979.html (requires online subscription.) Tickler: "In these rough economic times, funding long-term care poses a challenge for seniors and their families. There are a range of strategies you can pursue, though. . . . For people without long-term care insurance, which is the majority, the financial hit can be hard if care is needed." Additional evidence for what we've been saying: individuals and families will be more personally responsible in the future for their own long-term care as public financing dwindles. ***

*** WISCONSIN PARTNERSHIP enacted; kudos to Green Bay Regional Rep for the Center Romeo Raabe for his hard work toward the now successful enactment of Wisconsin's LTC Partnership: "WI: Guest column: Residents now have incentive to buy long-term insurance. By Robert Fischer. Green Bay Press Gazette. Dec 31, 2008
Wisconsin is now the 20th state to enact the long-term care insurance partnership program, a cooperative effort between private insurance and the state that gives residents a financial incentive for buying long-term care insurance. saves tax dollars to be used for the care of the truly needy." Read article.
Source: AHCA / NCAL Gazette - Monday, January 5, 2009 ***

*** LTC QUEEN, and Houston's Regional Rep for the Center, Honey Leveen blogs about "The 2008 National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour." Check it out at www.ltcqueen.com/?p=256. ***

 

LTC BULLET: AN LTC TOUR RETROSPECTIVE

LTC Comment: I can't move on to bring you our huge new plans for 2009 without pausing just once more this week to look back on our LTC Tour of 2008.

Today, I invite you down memory lane with "An LTC Tour Retrospective." On Thursday, we'll give everyone a summary, and Center members a TRANSCRIPT, of the LTC Tour's educational centerpiece: our two-hour mini-version of the Center's full-day "Long-Term Care Graduate Seminar."

Next week, we'll bear down on plans for 2009 including the Center's new "Save Medicaid LTC Campaign" and a program we're still designing for Center members to become more directly involved locally and nationally in fixing long-term care public policy.

I'm excited about the unique opportunities we have in 2009 to persuade state and federal policy makers about the need for long-term care reform. They say "nothing focuses the mind like a hanging in the morning." Right now, state and federal budgets are primed for the fiscal equivalent of a hanging. But we can provide a reprieve, nay, a pardon for any who will listen.

Dubious? Read our LTC Bullet this coming Thursday and next week's e-missives.

But for now . . .

An LTC Tour Retrospective
by
Stephen A. Moses

January 6, 2009

The Center for Long-Term Care Reform's 2008 National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour is history now.

All I can say is "We did it and thank you all!"

But for all of you who played such a critical part in making the LTC Tour a success, I thought you might enjoy this "retrospective" reminder of how it all started and progressed toward such a successful conclusion.

Let's begin by recognizing all the critical participants by name. (I know as hard as I try I'll miss someone, so please let me know if you are not included so I can correct the record.)

The LTC Tour's Coordinating Sponsors: GoldenCareUSA (GC) out of Plymouth, Minnesota (www.goldencareusa.com) and American Independent Marketing (AIM) out of Yakima, Washington (www.AimForLTC.com). Lenny Anderson's GC and John Wane's AIM supercharged the LTC Tour by providing critical financial back up that enabled me to focus on the job at hand. Without their help, the LTC Tour could not have achieved much of what it did.

GoldenCare also provided extensive supportive services such as seeking and signing major corporate sponsors for the LTC Tour; designing and printing elegant presentation packets; scheduling and planning speaking engagements with NAHU and NAIFA local affiliates, Financial Planning Associations, and Estate Planning Councils; and providing "back office" support of many kinds. For these services and for their dedication, collegiality and friendship, the Center and the LTC Tour are forever indebted to Mike Lynch, Todd Anderson, Mark Randall, Tom Randall, Andrea McGauley, Jon Randall, and Chip Soukup.

Next, I want to recognize the Center for Long-Term Care Reform's Regional Representatives. They provided "earnest money" of at least $500 in exchange for my promise to bring the "Silver Bullet of Long-Term Care" to their city and do a full day of publicity and speaking engagements. I'm so proud of our Regional Reps. They put together amazing programs and arranged so many media contacts to help spread the word about LTC planning. The LTC Tour was much richer because of their personal, local touch. Thank you all so very much!

Regional Representatives

Bob Pagel, Naples, Florida
Linda Jaikes, Naples, Florida
George Braddock, Miami, Florida
Joan Connell, Pensacola, Florida
Barbara Franklin, Charleston, South Carolina
David Hensley, Ashville, North Carolina
Kim Ketchum, Greensboro, North Carolina
Phyllis Shelton, Nashville, Tennessee
Susan Baskett, Nashville, Tennessee
Bruce Landis, Knoxville, Tennessee
Gail Lindsay, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Charmaine Golson, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Honey Leveen, Houston, Texas
Sally Leimbach, Baltimore, Maryland
Michael Fitzpatrick, Parsippany, New Jersey
Marc Kaye, Long Island, New York
Patti Spencer, Prescott, Arizona
Romeo Raabe, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Dorothy McMahon, Detroit, Michigan
Claude Thau, Overland Park, Kansas
David Landwehr, Wichita, Kansas
Barry Fisher, Canoga Park, California
Dennis Rompala, Boise, Idaho

Next in line for hearty appreciation and a big "Thank You" are the LTC Tour's major financial sponsors. You'll also see them recognized on pictures of the "Silver Bullet of Long-Term Care" at http://www.centerltc.com/TourPictures/SM_with_the_SilverBullet.htm and http://www.centerltc.com/TourPictures/Silver_Bullet_at_State_Capitols.htm. Here's a list:

Platinum

GoldenCare USA
American Independent Marketing
United of Omaha
Bankers Life and Casualty

Gold

OneAmerica
MetLife
Prudential
Marilee Driscoll's LTCMonth.com (Marilee also served as the LTC Tour's National PR and Marketing Consultant)
American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (Jesse Slome)
Broker World Magazine
CareOptions
QuestCE

Silver

MassMutual
Penn Treaty
LTC Financial Partners
LTCI Partners
Art Jetter & Company
Long-Term Living Magazine
Target Insurance Services and Claude Thau

The following sponsors were tremendously helpful to the LTC Tour with their financial support and often much more.

Contributor Sponsors

Equitable Life and Casualty
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama
National LTC Network

Friends of the Tour Sponsors

Capstone Financial Assurance
Claude Thau
Long Term Care Resources
Milliman, Inc. (Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee, Tampa)
Craig McCormick
Jerry Dock
Dennis Rompala
Mike Wells
Phil Sullivan, SellingLTC.com
Physicians Mutual Insurance Company
National/New York Long-Term Care Brokers, Inc.

Last, but by no means least, extraordinary thanks are due to my son and the Center's VP for Administration, Damon Moses, for coordinating everything while keeping all our tracking systems up to date and to my wife and the Center's bookkeeper, Judith Moses, for managing everything on the home front in my absence, including compassionately handling the ramifications of my 96-year-old mother's serious fall in July 2008 and her three-month full recovery in a nursing home. What a family!

Now, here's a little history of the National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour.

The very first announcement of the Tour came in "LTC Bullet: LTC Gadflies," Tuesday, January 23, 2007, http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives2007/672.htm:

I'm going to "take the show on the road" in 2008. Call it the "National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour." Details will follow in the months ahead. But here's the basic idea:

I'll visit each of six zones of the continental United States for a month or two during the presidential election year. While there, I'll work with Regional Representatives of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform to raise the long-term care issue with politicians, policy makers, the public and the media.

We'll ask the tough POLICY questions. Who should pay for long-term care? How can Medicaid be a safety net for the poor AND the main LTC payor for nearly everyone? Where will the money come from for public financing when boomers retire and draw down Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?

We'll ask the tough PERSONAL questions. Who will pay for YOUR long-term care? Are you insured for that risk? Have your parents or grandparents used Medicaid for LTC? Did you or they consult a Medicaid planner? Did you pay Medicaid back out of the estate or take the windfall for yourself? . . .

We'll rock the boat but we'll do it with HUMOR and GOOD WILL.

By September 2007, we were getting serious about the Tour with four LTC Bullets in a row that laid out the who, what, when, where and how of the National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour:

"LTC Bullet: The National LTC Consciousness Tour -- Resolution," on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 at http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives2007/712.htm said

WHEREAS, the government continues to pay for most long-term care; and

WHEREAS, public programs pay too little to ensure LTC access and quality; and

WHEREAS, most Americans remain in denial about the risks and cost of long-term care; and

WHEREAS, the long-term care insurance market continues to languish; and

WHEREAS, reverse mortgages are rarely used to fund LTC or LTCi premiums; and

WHEREAS, the media usually cover the long-term care issue poorly if at all; and

WHEREAS, state and federal policy makers push Medicaid expansion more aggressively than private LTC financing alternatives; and

WHEREAS, lawyers get rich impoverishing clients to put them on Medicaid while LTCi producers struggle to make a living; and

WHEREAS, LTC providers subsist on low government reimbursements but desperately need more market-rate private payers; and

WHEREAS, the Deficit Reduction Act remains widely unimplemented, unenforced, unpublicized and unsold, and

WHEREAS, implementation of successful state Long-Term Care Partnership Programs is a high, yet unrealized priority,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Center for Long-Term Care Reform will take our message of personal responsibility and rational long-term care policy, supplemented by our expertise and technical assistance, to America's grass roots in 2008.

With that resolution and commitment on the record, we operationalized the LTC Tour in the following four LTC Bullets:

LTC Bullet: The National LTC Consciousness Tour -- Content, Schedule, Itinerary, Thursday, September 6, 2007 at http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives2007/713.htm.

LTC Bullet: The National LTC Consciousness Tour -- How to Participate, Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives2007/713.htm.

LTC Bullet: The National LTC Consciousness Tour -- The Plan, Thursday, September 13, 2007 at http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives2007/715.htm.

The first mention of the "Silver Bullet" occurred in "LTC Bullet: The Silver Bullet of Long-Term Care," Monday, October 1, 2007 at http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives2007/718.htm:

Thursday I'm on my way to Tampa, Florida to place the order for an Airstream travel trailer (the "Silver Bullet of Long-Term Care"). It will do double duty as (1) a magnet for media attention on our "LTC Tour" and (2) my principal living quarters for a full year on the road. Check out this little beauty at http://www.centerltc.com/SILVER_BULLET_of_LTC.htm.

Why Tampa? Our LTC Tour begins in the southeast in January 2008. We don't want to ship the Silver Bullet from the factory in Ohio to Seattle and then tow it to Florida. We'll pick up the trailer and start the LTC Tour in Tampa, January 1, 2008.

For the remainder of 2007, we followed up with a series of LTC Tour planning and update Bullets:

LTC Bullet: LTC Tour Update and Endorsement, Friday, October 12, 2007: http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives2007/721.htm

LTC Bullet: LTC Tour Financial Update, Thursday, October 25, 2007: http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives2007/724.htm

LTC Bullet: LTC Tour Itinerary, Thursday, November 8, 2007: http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives2007/727.htm

LTC Bullet: LTC Tour Publicity Begins, Tuesday, December 4, 2007: http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives2007/731.htm

By this time in late 2007, however, I was running truly scared. The Center and I had committed to doing the 2008 National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour. I'd figured "build it and they will come." But so far not nearly enough Regional Reps and Corporate Sponsors had signed up. I worried I might be over $100,000 out of pocket to fund the LTC Tour. That would be a huge bite from my retirement savings.

Then a miracle happened. GoldenCare USA (Lenny Anderson) and American Independent Marketing (John Wane) stepped up and offered to be the LTC Tour's "coordinating sponsor." Mark Randall, GoldenCare's extraordinary trainer, speaker and idea machine, conceived the notion of working closely with the Center to make the Tour a success. GC actively recruited major corporate sponsors and worked hand in hand with me to schedule and execute speaking engagements, media contacts, and public exposure. We're particularly indebted to Andrea McGauley's exceptionally capable and dedicated work on these organizational aspects.

Here's how we announced the LTC Tour's new coordinating sponsor:

LTC Bullet: A Major Boost for the 2008 LTC Tour, Thursday, December 13, 2007: http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/archives2007/733.htm. LTC Comment: The Center for LTC Reform has enlisted a coordinating sponsor to dramatically increase the scope, exposure and impact of our 2008 LTC Tour. The Center will deliver our important message about responsible LTC planning to a much wider audience, including thousands more financial professionals.

What did GC and AIM want in return? Amazingly, nothing. There was no quid pro quo. They wanted only for the Center for Long-Term Care Reform to speak objectively about the importance of planning for long-term care. I hope, nevertheless, that GC's and AIM's extraordinary support of the LTC Tour reflects positively on them and that LTCI carriers, other brokers, producers, the media and the public will appreciate the investment GC and AIM made to benefit everyone concerned about the challenge of long-term care financing.

Highlights of the LTC Tour can be found on "LTC TV," our channel on YouTube at www.YouTube.com/LTCConsciousnessTour. For example:

Steve Moses on the purpose of the LTC Tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3gyItjQ_AQ&feature=channel_page

Interview with Todd Anderson, Marketing VP for LTC Tour Coordinating Sponsor GoldenCareUSA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpzJWMn-wRQ&feature=channel_page

Serious interviews with leading think tank scholars like:

Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDHbLJLoQpw&feature=channel_page;

Paul Hewitt of Americans for Generational Equity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrT9qd7ENaw&feature=channel_page;

Richard Jackson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keiY4wriYHM&feature=channel_page

Humorous vignettes like The National LTC Consciousness Tour at the Pyramids and the Parthenon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivbmlKo3n98&feature=channel_page and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVSDYGTfksQ&feature=channel_page respectively

Slide Show of the Tour to the tune of Johnny Cash singing "I've Been Everywhere": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDmXS_gpVNA&feature=channel_page

Pictures to remember the LTC Tour by:

Check out pictures of Steve Moses with the Silver Bullet of Long-Term Care at http://www.centerltc.com/TourPictures/SM_with_the_SilverBullet.htm

Check out pictures of the Silver Bullet at 15 State Capitols and the U.S. Capitol here: http://www.centerltc.com/TourPictures/Silver_Bullet_at_State_Capitols.htm

Media coverage of the LTC Tour:

For a list of media coverage of the National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour, including links to many shows and articles, go to http://www.centerltc.com/ltc_tour_media_coverage.htm

Testimonials:

For a sampling of feedback and testimonials about LTC Tour events, go to http://www.centerltc.com/Testimonials.htm

It wasn't all work:

The Silver Bullet and I "camped" in Jersey City for $60 per night and commuted by boat across the Hudson River to Manhattan where I saw the Broadway show "In the Heights" the night before it won the Tony for best musical.

I commuted by bus and train from suburban New York to Long Island to witness the 2008 "Belmont Stakes" at which "Big Brown" made a valiant, but unsuccessful attempt at the "Triple Crown."

One of my trips home to Seattle for a respite from the road was by train round trip from Toronto to Vancouver, BC on "ViaRail," the Canadian rail system.

Biking the Boardwalk and watching beach volleyball on Long-Island with New York Regional Rep Marc Kaye.

Marveling at Niagara Falls and visiting the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario to see "Mrs. Warren's Profession."

"Tailgating" and attending a Packers football game with Green Bay, WI Regional Representative Romeo Raabe.

Studying "Fountainology" with Houston Regional Rep Honey Leveen. [Fountainology is the observation and appreciation of urban fountains, especially the less well known ones.]

No room to list all the great "extra-curricular" activities that Regional Reps and others organized during my visits. These were just a few that popped to mind. Thanks to all of you for making my visits so enjoyable and comfortable.

By the numbers:

We summarized the Center for Long-Term Care Reform's achievements for 2008 in LTC Bullet: What Have You Done for Me Lately? on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/latest/791.htm:

Print Media: Coverage in 20 newspaper and magazine articles including Terry Savage's nationally syndicated financial column in the Chicago Sun Times ("The Savage Truth".)

Electronic Media: 8 TV shows, 15 "talk radio" shows, 2 "podcasts."

We created "LTC-TV" and posted 36 formal interviews and humorous or informational vignettes on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/LTCConsciousnessTour. Check 'em out!

91 formal presentations of 1 to 8 hours each (most providing continuing education credit) to 4,467 attendees including NAIFA, NAHU, FPA, Estate Planning Council and many other audiences as of 12/15/8. Average attendance per event: 49.

20 special briefings for media (including Kelly Greene of the Wall Street Journal); Congressional staff (including Senator Judd Gregg's health policy advisor; majority and minority staff of U.S. House Medicaid committee); state legislators (including Tennessee, California, Louisiana); state Medicaid directors (including TennCare Director and Deputy); international experts (including representatives of UK Prime Minister); think tank analysts (including Heritage Foundation, Heartland Institute and Centers for Strategic and International Studies); Wall Street analysts (for Gerson Lehrman); academics (including Karnes Professor of Finance at U. of Illinois, Urbana Champaign).

We kept up our "daily e-publications":

55 "LTC Bullets" published as of #791 on 12/17/8, today. All LTC Bullets are archived chronologically and by topic at http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/index.htm.

123 "LTC E-Alerts" published as of 12/16/8, yesterday. All LTC E-Alerts are archived in "The Zone" for Center members with password-protected access at http://www.centerltc.com/members/ltc_week_in_review.htm.

5 bylined articles by Steve Moses published: 3 for Broker World, 1 for Health Insurance Underwriter, and 1 for Airstream Life

Presented report on our major study (conducted in 2007) at Shaftesbury Luncheon of the John Locke Foundation on January 21, 2008 in Raleigh, NC: Stephen A. Moses, "Long-Term Care Financing in North Carolina: Good Intentions, Ambitious Efforts, Unintended Consequences," John Locke Foundation, Raleigh, North Carolina, January 2008, http://www.johnlocke.org/site-docs/policyreports/NC_LTC_finance.pdf.

Attended three industry conferences (two with the Silver Bullet of LTC): National Long-Term Care Producers Summit in Atlanta, February 24-26, 2006; Eighth Annual Intercompany LTC Insurance Conference in Jacksonville, Florida, March 16-19, 2008; and the 59th annual convention of the American Health Care Association at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN on October 6-7, 2008.

That's about it for the hard numbers, but consider this. Most cars that passed the Silver Bullet took notice. Drivers and passengers smiled and waved. Many queried me at gas stations. Fellow campers at RV Parks all across the county--they often in big, expensive rigs--asked about the diminutive Silver Bullet, the LTC Tour and long-term care. I'm confident our Platinum, Gold, and Silver Sponsors got value, with their logos on the Silver Bullet.

In all, the LTC Tour touched many, many people with a critical message. Plan for LTC through the windshield, based on what's coming; not through the rear-view mirror based on how LTC was funded in the past. Everything is about to change. You won't get access to quality LTC unless you can pay privately. So plan early and save, invest or insure for the risk and cost of LTC.

That's our story and we're sticking to it in 2009.

All in all, it was a great year. Thanks again to each and every one of you who make the Center for Long-Term Care Reform's 2008 National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour such a resounding success.