How is a 90% long-term care insurance rate hike OK? - Chicago Sun-Times

How is a 90% long-term care rate hike OK? - Chicago Sun-Times
TERRY SAVAGE savage@suntimes.com March 18, 2012 7:26PM

Bob Levy, age 69, and his wife, Cheryl, age 64, each bought John Hancock long term care insurance policies 10 years ago. And every year since then they have paid a combined premium of $3893.40 per year. The couple live on a fixed income and the low interest they earn on their savings. So they were shocked when Cheryl received a notice of a 90 percent increase in the annual premium for the policy. Then Bob got a similar notice. It means they would now pay $7,385.52 a year.

“Needless to say I was shocked and disappointed. . . . what a waste of money!,” says Bob. “How can that kind of increase be approved by the State of Illinois? Why hasn’t there been any media coverage? And what should we be doing?”

* * *

They did the right thing — hoping to avoid the dreaded outcome of being older, alone, and in need of everyday care that is not covered by Medicare or supplements. They knew that long-term custodial care — at home or in assisted living or in a nursing home — now costs $7,000 a month, and rising yearly.

So they purchased Long-term Care Insurance — something I have highly recommended to defray the future cost of care if it is needed.

But now, many people who purchased long-term care insurance are getting a shock. The insurance companies that wrote these important policies are sending out notices of huge rate increases. In the case of John Hancock LTC policies, the increases are as high as 90 percent annually. ... Click here for the full story.

*Terry Savage is the Chicago Sun-Times’ nationally syndicated financial columnist, and a registered investment adviser. Post personal finance questions on her blog at TerrySavage.com and blogs.suntimes.com/savage.

NH getting $26.5 million in Medicaid grants to expand community, home care | The Republic

NH getting $26.5 million in Medicaid grants to expand community, home care The Republic

Wolfeboro, Carroll County, New Hamphsire

Plan for Long‑Term Care

Long-term care includes medical and non-medical care for people who have a chronic illness or disability. Non-medical care includes non-skilled personal care assistance, such as help with everyday activities like dressing, bathing, and using the bathroom. At least 70% of people over 65 will need long-term care services at some point. Medicare and most health insurance plans, including Medigap (Medicare Supplement Insurance) policies don’t pay for this type of care, also called “custodial care.” Medicare only pays for medically-necessary skilled nursing facility care or home health care if you meet certain conditions. Long-term care can be provided at home, in the community, in assisted living, or in a nursing home. It’s important to start planning for long-term care now to maintain your independence and to make sure you get the care you may need in the future.

Paying for Long‑Term Care

Long-term Care Insurance—This type of private insurance policy can help pay for many types of long-term care, including both skilled and non-skilled (custodial) care. Long-term care insurance can vary widely.  Some policies may cover only nursing home care.  Others may include coverage for a range of services like adult day care, assisted living, medical equipment, and informal home care.

Note: Long-term care insurance doesn’t replace your Medicare coverage.

Your current or former employer or union may offer long-term care insurance.  Current and retired Federal employees, active and retired members of the uniformed services, and their qualified relatives can apply for coverage under the Federal Long-term Care Insurance Program.  If you have questions, visit www.opm.gov/insure/ltc, or call the Federal Long‑term Care Insurance Program at 1-800-582-3337.  TTY users should call 1‑800‑843‑3557.

Personal Resources—You can use your savings to pay for long‑term care.  Some insurance companies let you use your life insurance policy to pay for long-term care.  Ask your insurance agent how this works.

Other Private Options—Besides long-term care insurance and personal resources, you may choose to pay for long-term care through a trust or annuity.  What option is best for you depends on your age, your health status, your risk of needing long-term care, and your personal financial situation.  Visit www.longtermcare.gov for more information about your options.

Medicaid—Medicaid is a joint Federal and state program that pays for certain health services for people with limited income and resources.  If you qualify, you may be able to get help to pay for nursing home care or other health care costs. 

Home and Community-based Services Programs—If you’re already eligible for Medicaid (or, in some states, would be eligible for Medicaid coverage in a nursing home), you or your family members may be able to get help with the costs of services that help you stay in your home instead of moving to a nursing home.  Examples include homemaker services, personal care, and respite care.  For more information, contact your State Medical Assistance (Medicaid) office.  Call 1‑800‑MEDICARE (1‑800‑633‑4227), and say “Medicaid” to get the telephone number, or visit www.medicare.gov.  TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.

Veterans’ Benefits—The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) may provide long-term care for service-related disabilities or for certain eligible veterans.  The VA also has a Housebound and an Aid and Attendance Allowance Program that provides cash grants to eligible disabled veterans and surviving spouses instead of formally‑provided homemaker, personal care, and other services needed for help at home.  For more information, call the VA at 1-800-827-1000, or visit www.va.gov.

Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)—PACE is a Medicare and Medicaid program offered in many states that allows people who otherwise need a nursing home-level of care to remain in the community.  Coming Soon—The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Program is a national, voluntary insurance program to help you pay for services and supports so you can maintain independence in your community if you become disabled.  People over 18 who are working will have the opportunity to enroll in the CLASS program starting in late 2012, through either payroll deductions or individual enrollment.  Enrollees who become disabled (at any point after a five year vesting period) and need help with basic daily living activities such as eating, using the bathroom, and getting in and out of bed will be able to get a benefit that will average no less than $50 a day to help pay for supports to stay independent.  Talk to your employer or benefits administrator for more information.

Long-Term Care Contacts

Use the following resources to get more information about long‑term care:

--Visit www.medicare.gov/LTCPlanning.  You can also visit www.medicare.gov/NHCompare or www.medicare.gov/HHCompare to compare nursing homes or home health agencies in your area.

--Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.

--Visit www.longtermcare.gov to learn more about planning for long-term care.

--Call your State Insurance Department to get information about long-term care insurance. Call 1-800-MEDICARE to get the telephone number. You can also call your State Health Insurance Assistance Program

--Call the National Association of Insurance Commissioners at 1-866-470-6242 to get a copy of “A Shopper’s Guide to Long‑term Care Insurance.”

--Visit the Eldercare Locator at www.eldercare.gov to find your local Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC). You can also call 1‑800‑677‑1116. ADRCs offer a full range of long‑term care services and support in a single, coordinated program.

C E N T E R S F O R  M E D I C A R E & M E D I C A I D  S E R V I C E S

http://www.medicare.gov

Medicare & You  2011

http://www.medicare.gov/Library/PDFNavigation/PDFInterim.asp?Language=English&Type=Pub&PubID=10050

Rochester NH man accused of neglecting his elderly mother, 85

G. Thomas Bickford
Wolfeboro, NH.   After failing to plan for his mother's long term care, a Rochester, NH, man faces felony charges for neglecting his elderly mother.

According to the Fosters Daily Democrat,

Leo Gordon Carter, 55, of 12 Crockett St., was indicted on Class B felony charges of criminal neglect of an elderly, disabled or impaired adult and second-degree assault as well as a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of an incompetent person.

Fosters reported "according to a news release from the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office, in July 2010, emergency medical services responded to Carter's residence, where he was the sole caretaker of his 85-year-old, bedridden mother. The woman was found to be suffering from malnutrition, severe dehydration and infected bedsores.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt; rather, it means a grand jury has found sufficient evidence to warrant a trial."

According to WMUR TV,

"investigators said Leo Gordon Carter, 56, called for an ambulance in July 2010 because his mother was unconscious.

Rescue workers said Elsie Carter, 85, was taken to Frisbee Memorial Hospital, just down Crockett Street, where mother and son lived.

Medical staff said they alerted the authorities after they found that Elsie Carter was malnourished, dehydrated and covered with infected bed sores.

"She (Elsie Carter) was also covered in dried feces and urine, had urine burns on her back and there were also insects crawling on her at the time she was admitted to the hospital," Assistant Attorney General Tracy Culberson said.

Investigators said that Elsie Carter's son is her sole caregiver.

Elsie Carter, who suffered from dementia, stayed at the hospital for one month before she was transferred to a nursing home, where her health improved; but investigators said she died just four months after first going to the hospital." http://www.wmur.com/news/27606184/detail.html

While an extreme case, caregivers can reach out to State and local area agencies for help with caring for their loved ones, before they become overwhelmed. Such agencies include ServiceLink 1-866-634-9412, http://www.nh.gov/servicelink and your own doctor for a referral to your local visiting nurses agency or private home care agency.

Seniors and their caretakers can avoid similar situations by consulting with an elder law attorney and exploring their long term care options, including long term care insurance for in-home and nursing home care, personal care contracts with their children and Medicaid Home and Community Care Benefits and Nursing home benefits.  I would be glad to help you explore your long-term-care options for the future or right now.  Feel free to call me at (603) 569-0241 or write to me, Tom Bickford, to make an appointment.

If you are concerned that someone is unable to take care of themselves or is being physically neglected, abused, or financially exploited, you can make a confidential call to the NH Bureau of Elder and Adult Services (BEAS) at (603) 271-7014 or Toll Free from within NH at (800) 949-0470. http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcbcs/beas/adultprotection.htm

When you tell BEAS that your worried that a senior is unable to care for themselves, (also known as self-neglect) BEAS will start a confidential investigation to see if a senior living alone can care for themselves and, if not, what services can be provided to help them to remain living independently in their own home. When alerted to cases of caregiver neglect BEAS conducts a similar investigation into the allegations and if providing services to the caregiver can solve the problem. In cases of criminal neglect and intentional abuse and financial exploitation, BEAS will work with the local police and NH Attorney General's office to protect the victim and prosecute the perpetrator.

Your calls to NH BEAS are always confidential.

Please visit us at http://www.elderlawnh.com/

Natalie Choate on IRAs, Individual Retirement Trusts and Conduit Trusts

Natalie Choate discusses using "individual retirement trusts" and "conduit trusts" to stretch out IRA benefits and protect the IRA from spendthrift children in her column in the MorningstarAdvisor dated 10/13/2006.
http://www.morningstaradvisor.com/articles/fcarticle.asp?docId=12454

Carroll County Nursing Home Closing?

This is a link to an article in the Granite State News on the debate over closing the Mountain View Nursing Home in Ossipee, New Hampshire.

http://www.granitestatenews.com/Articles-c-2009-07-14-149035.113119_Lawmakers_question_plans_for_24_million_nursing_home.html

Carroll County's Mountain View Nursing Home to Close?

Carroll County Commissioner Dorothy Solomon sent the following e-mail reporting that there are New Hampshire state legislators from Carroll County (The County Delegation), who would close down Carroll County's Mountain View Nursing Home and farm out the residents to wherever there is a bed available. According to Commissioner Solomon that could be anywhere in the state. Commissioner Solomon urges Carroll County residents to attend the public hearing at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 20 in the County Delegation room of the Carroll County Administration Building on Route 171, Water Village Road, Ossipee, New Hampshire to show your support for keeping open Mountain View Nursing Home and moving forward with the new building needed to provide the essential care for our elders. If you want to make sure that the high level of care, which Mountain View Nursing Home is renowned for, remains available to your friends, neighbors, and relatives, its imperative that you attend this meeting or inform your state representatives and senators, now.

Mountain View Nursing Home serves the communities of Albany, Bartlett, Brookfield, Conway, Effingham, Center Harbor, Chocorua, Conway, Effingham, Freedom, Jackson, Madison, Moultonboro, Ossipee, Sandwich, Tuftonboro, Wakefield, and Wolfeboro.

The Carroll County Delegation will meet on July 20 at the Delegation Room in the Administration Building in Ossipee at 9 am. I am looking for a large group of people to be there in support of a new, improved, realistic "home" for the elders of Carroll County. There are people on the Delegation who would close down the home and farm out the residents wherever there is a bed available. That could be anywhere in the state! There are not enough beds in the three other Carroll County homes to take all residents. Aside from that, the Commissioners will offer evidence that closing the present home and not building another is not "cost effective" since that is the sole reason given for this proposal...saving $$$$! Nowhere is a thought given to the lives and needs of the elderly of this county.

The new home being proposed brings to Carroll County the true meaning of "home" for the elderly, frail and often ill residents of this county. The Commissioners are proposing a real "home" built in the concept of households and neighborhoods. Each household would have 12 or 13 residents living in private rooms with private baths. Each household would have its own living room, dining room, small efficiency kitchen and activity center. People can be grouped as to needs and compatibility. No longer would there be long corridors (think institutional living) to maneuver to go to meals or activities. There would be room for personal items for residents and enough storage space in the rooms to hold necessary equipment (think wheelchairs, etc.) so the staff would not need to waste time and energy finding these items. The linens would also be on hand. Generally the quality of life would be better and for the staff it would be more efficient and time more usefully spent. There would be two households to a neighborhood and two neighborhoods to a floor. The proposal is for two floors with room to expand should there be a need. The building would be built to conform to the "green" concept and be more efficient to run. There would be room to take in rehabilitation patients who are not long term residents and who actually bring in good funding.

There is a great need to have you (and anyone you can bring with you) at the Monday meeting as a show of support. Otherwise, the Delegates who are pressing for closure will think they have backing. There will be time at the beginning of the meeting for public input and there should be a similar period of time at the end of the meeting.

Thank you and I hope to see you on Monday, June 20th.

Dorothy