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. |