LTC Bullet: What Have You Done for Me Lately?

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Seattle--

LTC Comment: What a year! Did you get value from the Center for LTC Reform? We'll report today. You decide. Then please let us know. Thanks for your support.

*** SPECIAL: We are making access to "The Zone," our members-only website, available free of charge for one week. Yikes! One week only. Check it out now. See what you think. Then contact us at info@centerltc.com, join the Center as an individual or corporate member, and we'll immediately give you a permanent user name and password, start your LTC E-Alerts and LTC Bullets coming, and welcome you into the Center's warm educational and motivational embrace.

Check out The Zone here or by clicking on the "Members-Only Zone" link at the top of www.centerltc.com. Enter the user name "free" and the password "trial," all lower case and without the quote marks. Bingo. You're in. Browse all the special features including "The Almanac of Long-Term Care," our encyclopedia of LTC data, quotes and policy analysis. Enjoy! ***

LTC BULLET: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?

LTC Comment: What a challenging year!

  • LTC insurance sales remain flat or slightly up. More carriers have left the market. Ironically, 2011 is the year everything starts looking up.
  • Congress handed over to government the remaining private half of health care financing. I can barely believe it actually happened. I still don't think it'll last.
  • Long-term care financing is caught in the turbulence of the CLASS Act because it slipped in under the health reform radar. That'll change.
  • Government spending at all levels exploded again this year throwing local, state and federal budgets deeper and deeper into the red.
  • Entitlement mentality is stronger than ever, but entitlement programs are weak and carry massive unfunded liabilities.
  • The long-awaited Age Wave has begun to crest and will soon crash on an aging populace in denial.
  • Expect more of the same in the coming year(s), only worse.
  • What's different now is that the public and even many policy makers have begun to worry about bloated budgets, skyrocketing debt, and economic malaise.
  • That's why consumers will need you and your counsel more than ever. The good news is they may finally be ready to listen and heed your advice.
  • Go get 'em.

If you advise aging Americans about financial planning, you are your clients' last line of defense against eroding public benefits on which so many have come to rely. If your job is to protect them against long-term care risk and cost, then you're the last hope they'll receive quality care at the most appropriate level by paying privately.

But how do you crack through the veil of denial that prevents most people from seeing the need to plan early and save, invest or insure? That's where your Center for Long-Term Care Reform comes in. Our goal is to help you help more people prepare responsibly for LTC. And everything we do-- research, publication, speaking, legislative testimony, and advocacy--is aimed at achieving that goal.

So what have we done for you lately? Here's a sampling.

  • 2010 was the year of studies for the Center for Long-Term Care Reform. What wonderful timing! Just as America is ready to confront Medicaid and LTC financing problems head on finally, we're prepared with hard data, trenchant analysis and creative ideas.
  • In January, with the Ocean State Policy Research Institute, we published "Doing LTC RIght," a report about LTC financing in Rhode Island, the mouse that roared with a "global Medicaid waiver." Read our analysis and recommendations, which are applicable nationwide, here.
  • We contracted this year with three major State Policy Network think tanks to produce studies of Medicaid and LTC financing in . . .
    • Pennsylvania for the Commonwealth Foundation. Our report, titled "The Keystone of Long-Term Care:  More Access to Better Care at Lower Public Cost for Pennsylvanians" is due out soon.
    • California for the Pacific Research Institute. Our report, titled "Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?," is in "layout."
    • New York for the Empire Center for New York State Policy. Our report, provisionally titled "Long-Term Care Financing in New York State: The Consequences of Denial," is due in draft to the Empire Center this coming Friday.
  • Center president Steve Moses published only three bylined articles this year, compared to 15 in 2009, due to the all-consuming challenge of researching and writing four major reports. But, boy will he have a lot to write about in 2011!
  • Steve delivered 16 speeches or briefings at conferences and meetings and by tele-conference on many themes but with one central focus: planning for long-term care is more important than ever because of the impending collapse of government safety net programs.
  • The Center kept members up to date all year long on the CLASS Act. We published 14 LTC Bullets and 25 LTC E-Alerts about CLASS. Check them out and many other CLASS sources compiled in our "CLASS Act Update" in The Zone. Use your "free, trial" user name and password to access this content.
  • Center VP for Administration Damon Moses edited and transmitted all our publications, maintained our user-friendly website, learned and then automated the Center's bookkeeping system, and supported all our corporate and individual members with skill and alacrity.
  • Check out our "website webinar," a virtual tour of www.centerltc.com, which Damon directed and produced. You'll find a cornucopia of helpful information in our public and members-only websites.
  • LTC Bullets: By the end of this week, we will have published 46 LTC Bullets during 2010. Find them archived by date and topic here.
  • LTC E-Alerts: By the end of this week, we will have published 145 of our daily LTC E-Alerts in 2010. Find them archived by date in The Zone here.
  • We don't keep count, but we've responded to hundreds of phone and email inquiries from members, media, policy makers, legislators, and think tanks. We're dedicated to getting LTC right.

In the coming year . . . in 2011 . . . we all need the Center for Long-Term Care Reform carrying out its mission to "ensure access to quality long-term care for all Americans."

Won't you help us keep the pressure on for rational LTC policy and responsible LTC planning?

Where else can you get one-a-day mental vitamins like our LTC E-Alerts and LTC Bullets to educate and motivate you?

Just think of all the resources the Center puts at your fingertips:

Review dozens of our articles, speeches and reports here.

Find almost 900 LTC Bullets here.

Find 945 LTC E-Alerts--eight years worth--in The Zone here.

Remember: For one week only, preview "The Zone" here. (Temporary user name: free; password: trial)

Check out testimonials the Center's received here.

Find our membership levels and benefits schedule here: It covers everything from individual memberships ($150 per year) to all levels of corporate memberships.

Still harboring doubts? Get your free trial membership here.

Thank you for giving us another year to fight the good fight for our common objective: better LTC for all. Keep the faith. We'll be there for you as long as you're there for us.