LTC Bullet: How to Fix Long-Term Care
Friday, February 3, 2012
Seattle—
LTC Comment: Find out “How to Fix
Long-Term Care” after the ***news.***
*** PRAISE FOR THE CENTER’S “CLIPPING
SERVICE”: Here’s what Mark Randall, one of the country’s leading LTC
trainers and author of
GoldenCareUSA’s highly regarded “LTC
CEO” program, had to say:
“Your service has saved me hundreds of
hours of research each year since we started receiving your clippings.
Using it makes me feel confident knowing that I’m on top of anything
happening in the industry – from legislation to state movements to
industry and insurer announcements. And being on top of things is critical
in our industry. Any serious LTCi agent that doesn’t take advantage of
this is…well…maybe, isn’t that serious? Or, at the very least,
doesn’t realize the value the service can bring to their production! For
anyone above the level of agent, this service has to be considered a must.
Thank you for your diligence in uncovering all the daily news a person in
our industry needs!”
Find details about the Center’s LTC
Clipping Service
here. Contact Damon at 206-283-7036 or
damon@centerltc.com to subscribe. ***
*** OUR “Have
Steve Moses speak at your next event” FLYER brought this reply from a
world-class LTCI veteran, Bob Callanan of the
Borden Hamman Agency:
“FYI ... Next to Jesse Slome and the
American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI), Steve Moses
has proven the most persistent and sought after individual ADVOCATE for
the need for ‘private’ LTCi since I joined this industry back in 1990.
There is not another individual as knowledgeable about the inner workings
of our various State and National Government entities vis-à-vis Long-Term
Care issues ... BAR NONE Steve remains a tireless believer in and advocate
for necessary Industry ‘REFORMS’ and is one of the most persuasive
speakers I've ever listened to.”
To schedule Steve to speak at your
event, contact him directly at 206-283-7036 or
smoses@centerltc.com ***
LTC BULLET: HOW TO FIX LONG-TERM CARE
LTC Comment: The Center for Long-Term
Care Reform’s late summer, early fall project in Washington, DC produced
seven important deliverables. As described in our project report titled “Near-Term
Prospects for Long-Term Care Financing Reform,” these work products
included:
1. "Pay
for the Doc Fix by Fixing Medicaid LTC"
2. “Save
Medicaid LTC $30 Billion Per Year AND Improve the Program"
3. & 4. Letters from members or committees of Congress to both
the GAO and the DHHS Inspector General requesting studies relevant to our
project's objectives.
5. "Medicaid
Long-Term Care Benefits: Friendly Fire in the Class War": Steve
Moses’s testimony published by Congress.
6. "Challenges
to Effective Long-Term Care: Cost and Affordability": Steve Moses’s
speech to the 13th annual Health Sector Assembly in Sundance,
UT.
7. Six “Briefing Papers” on “How to Fix Long-Term Care” with an “Overview”
linking to each.
Today’s LTC Bullet conveys our
“Overview” of “How to Fix Long-Term Care.” Subsequent LTC Bullets
will deliver each of our six Briefing Papers in serial form. We hope that
by reading this material you will gain a better understanding of why
America’s long-term care delivery and financing system is so dysfunctional
and what it will take to fix the problem. Thanks for supporting the
Center for Long-Term Care Reform.
--------------------
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Briefing Paper
#1: The History of Long-Term Care Financing or How We Got Into This Mess
www.centerltc.com/BriefingPapers/1.htm
-- (PDF
for print)
How did the USA come to have a welfare-financed, institutionally biased
LTC system in the wealthiest country in the world where no one wants to go
to a nursing home? We answer this question first or we risk treating
symptoms instead of causes and making problems worse instead of better.
Briefing Paper #2:
Medicaid Long-Term Care Eligibility
www.centerltc.com/BriefingPapers/2.htm -- (PDF
for print)
Despite the
conventional wisdom that people must spend down into impoverishment before
qualifying for Medicaid LTC benefits, the truth is that income and asset
eligibility rules are so generous that most people qualify easily without
spending down significant wealth. This brief explains how and why.
Briefing Paper #3:
Medicaid Planning for Long-Term Care
www.centerltc.com/BriefingPapers/3.htm
-- (PDF
for print)
Even people who are
too affluent to qualify for Medicaid LTC benefits under the generous basic
eligibility rules can qualify easily with the help of simple or
sophisticated legal techniques marketed by "Medicaid planners." This brief
explains how.
Briefing Paper #4:
Rebalancing Long-Term Care
www.centerltc.com/BriefingPapers/4.htm
-- (PDF
for print)
Despite the high hopes
of many analysts and policymakers, rebalancing Medicaid LTC services from
nursing home care to home care without simultaneously tightening
eligibility will not save money and will increase costs interminably. This
brief explains why.
Briefing Paper #5:
Dual Eligibles and Long-Term Care: How to Save Medicaid LTC $30 Billion
Per Year and Pay for the "Doc Fix"
www.centerltc.com/BriefingPapers/5.htm
-- (PDF
for print)
Medicaid recipients
also eligible for Medicare are the program's most expensive. Better public
policy could delay or prevent Medicaid dependency for millions who would
otherwise become dual eligibles. This brief explains precisely what needs
to be done to achieve that goal.
Briefing Paper #6:
Private Long-Term Care Financing Alternatives
www.centerltc.com/BriefingPapers/6.htm
-- (PDF
for print)
Medicaid does not have
to bear the brunt of most LTC financing if policy makers unleash the
potential of the four major private financing alternatives that currently
go mostly untapped. This brief explains what those sources are and what
needs to be done to maximize their potential.
Briefing Paper #7:
Overview: How to Fix Long-Term Care
www.centerltc.com/BriefingPapers/Overview.htm
This series of seven
Briefing Papers explains why LTC service delivery and financing are the
way they are in the United States. It points the way toward solutions that
will reduce Medicaid's LTC financial exposure, enhance care access and
quality, and encourage private sector solutions and employment.
For more information, contact Steve
Moses, president of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform (www.centerltc.com)
at
smoses@centerltc.com or
206-283-7036.
2212 Queen Anne
Avenue North, #110, Seattle, Washington 98109 ●
Phone (206) 283-7036 ● Fax (206) 283-6536
E-mail
info@centerltc.com ● Web Site
www.centerltc.com ● Ask how you
can support the Center today! |