As part of the recently passed healthcare reform bill signed into law by President Obama, an act to address the long term care funding crisis in our country was included.  The Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) Act provides a voluntary long term care benefit for participants that elect to participate.

To participate, you must enroll through your company or a self-employed pension plan and pay a monthly premium for five years to qualify for the benefit in the future.  CLASS will not be active for two more years, so the soonest someone will begin collecting the benefit is at least seven years from now.  As with any new government program, there are still details to be worked out through regulation and comment periods which will happen over these next two years.

Some details about the program have emerged making it clear this is not going to be a magic bullet cure for the massive funding crisis impacting seniors and their families requiring long term care.  First of all, the benefit paid out will be in the range of $50-$75 per day which falls far short of the actual costs of daily care (and those costs will continue to rise annually over the next seven years).  Also, the benefit will be limited to the costs of at home care and will not cover assisted living or nursing home care.  Further issues around rolling over the benefit year to year, opt-in / opt-out penalties and the effects of adverse selection will all prove a challenge for participants.

Although CLASS Act alone is not enough for an individual or our nation to deal with the massive costs of long term care, it is a positive first step for the government in acknowledging the hardships faced by Americans trying to meet these obligations.  If nothing else, it will do much to educate people that they must prepare now for the financial challenges that lay ahead in their future.

To read an analysis on CLASS by UNUM, click below

CLASS Act Summary - UNUM 5 10.pdf (655.39 kb)

" The federal budget is on an unsustainable path, primarily because of the rising cost of health care and the aging of the U.S. population."-- Congressional Budget Office March, 2010

When you visit the CBO's website that is the very first message to greet you in a very PROMINENT headline on their homepage!  The chart below this dire warning is a graphical depiction of how sharply spending on Medicare and Medicaid escalates above spending on Social Security and on every other Federal expenditure combined will continue to rise for years to come.

The impact of the healthcare reform package signed into law by the President still has many unknowns.  Like anything else it has its positives and negatives, supporters and detractors, but one thing is certain-- we could not as a nation continue down this path to certain calamity. 

FACTS:

- Aging Baby Boomers (the "Silver Tsunami") will spark an explosion of demand on healthcare and long term care services/spending

- The U.S. and world economy continues to confront challenges and a changing dynamic that will limit the ability of the U.S. government at the state and federal level to give everyone everything they need/want 

- Pressure on the individual to be able to maintain a reasonable standard of living in retirement and senior care is going to increase as government dollars/programs become more difficult to access

The sweeping changes in the newly enacted health reform legislation came amidst much debate and political battle-- but when you consider the demographic and economic realities over the next 10-20 years, what we have just witnessed is just the warm up.  When serious reform efforts turn to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid we will see a battle that will make us look back on the last two years of economic and political upheaval as the "good old days".

In a move that will bolster the Democratic coalition in the Senate and the need to hold on to 60 votes, the AARP announced their support today for the reform plan that includes massive reductions to Medicare. AARP says that the cuts will be paid for in reduced waste and fraud, improved efficiencies and elimination of duplicative benefits. 

The support of AARP is a huge boost for Democrats that have been struggling to keep the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster that would kill the legislation. The AARP is a trusted source for many seniors, and this endorsement may ease fears that proposed cuts would have a negative impact on seniors already struggling to pay for the costs of health care. 

The ultimate outcome of the reform legislation is still up in the air, but one thing has become certain—when the AARP supports cutting almost half a trillion dollars out of Medicare it becomes that much more certain it will happen. 

To read more about AARP’s support for the Senate bill, click here.

Senate Democrats prevent measure to take Medicare cuts out of healthcare reform bill, click here.

The raucous health care reform debate that has been playing out across the country and in Washington, DC is now reaching the point where key Congressional committees are voting on which provisions will be in or out of the final bill.  Central to these votes and the tensions all around is how reform will impact seniors. 

In numerous versions Medicare cuts have been proposed and opposed.  As different versions of reform bills have cleared various House and Senate committees, it has remained very clear that seniors remain a powerful force impacting the final outcome.  Organizations such as AARP and the American Health Care Association (AHCA) have been very effective proponents for making sure that current benefits are not taken away from seniors, or that cuts do not reduce access to or the level of quality in long term housing and care. 

It appears that we will see the full chambers of both the House and Senate voting on final bills within a matter of weeks, and the President could possibly sign sweeping change into law before the end of this year.  For seniors and family members concerned about how they could be impacted, visit the websites of organization such as AARP and AHCA for up to date and easy to understand information as well as assistance in how best to communicate with your members of Congress if you wish to express your opinion.  For example, Life Care Funding Group is a member of AHCA and has posted a link to their “Save our Seniors” (SOS) resource center for easy access from our website. 

To read more about the current status of health care reform, click here.

66% of residents in an assisted living facility in 2009 reported being the primary source of payment for the costs of housing and care.  The impact of the economic recession has hit seniors and their families hard with an almost 60% drop in the number of families able to contribute to a loved ones care.  The trend of more seniors being solely responsible for the costs of housing and care will only be made worse as the combination of a slow economic recovery and additional cuts to programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are being contemplated as part of President Obama’s health reform plans. 

Over the coming years these economic and political realities will be exacerbated by the baby boomers reaching retirement age and then their “senior living” years (shifting to use of home healthcare, assisted living and skilled nursing home care).  Cuts to programs such as Medicare and Medicaid may be shortsighted. During a recent interview with healthcare policy expert Gail Wilensky on PBS’ News Hour (Aug. 10), her insight into the impact of these cuts was very specific: 

GAIL WILENSKY: The notion that you can cut $500 billion to $600 billion dollars out of the Medicare and Medicaid program and think that you don't risk affecting access for groups of seniors is simply incorrect. That is a whole different story. What most of the ways to get money quickly, which is what you want if you want to use that money to expand insurance coverage for people don't have it, are sure ways that Congress will score as being a real saving, and that means whacking reimbursement. They're going to lower reimbursements for a nursing home. They're going to lower reimbursements...

JUDY WOODRUFF: For nursing homes?

GAIL WILENSKY: ... for nursing homes, for home care. They're going to reduce the amount hospitals who have high re-admissions for certain illnesses have. Now, do you want to go after some of these in reforming the delivery system? You do in careful and slow ways, but just whacking reimbursement, which is the only way to get quick savings upfront, is a whole different matter.

There is no doubt that our nation’s healthcare system needs reform, but before cutting real dollars to provide care to our nation’s most vulnerable population, areas to concentrate on first are administrative waste, unnecessary medical testing, frivolous law suits, and excessive drug and medical equipment costs.  Regardless of the outcome of this latest attempt to reform healthcare, seniors and their families must prepare themselves to shoulder more and more of the burden of the costs for senior housing and care.  Private funding sources are going to continue to become the rule and not the exception as time moves along. 

If you want to add your voice to the healthcare reform debate, click here to learn how on the American Health Care Association (AHCA) website.

NYT: Seniors living in retirement communities react to the President's health reform proposal

“This is not the time for business as usual,” AARP CEO Bill Novelli said at a press briefing. “It is time to demonstrate bold leadership, to take our agenda to the people and our nation’s leaders, to demand change and to work hard to bring about that change.”

And with that, the AARP, representing more than 40 million Americans over the age of fifty, put the incoming Obama administration and the next Congress on notice that they would be playing a very active role in any discussions about healthcare reform and economic recovery efforts.  They correctly identified the fact that long term care is always one of the first areas to be ignored or gouged when it comes to government budgets.  They also called for $50 billion in aid to Medicaid programs—just at a time when state and federal budgets had made it clear that Medicaid budgets would be in jeopardy due to the economy.

This is important good news for seniors and families that are being hit hard right now by the effects of the economic crunch.  Economic indicators continue to get worse as reports issued by the Federal Reserve, the auto industry, the housing industry and the Labor Department show continued declines at unprecedented levels. Seniors will need help securing and paying for appropriate levels of housing and long term care.  Help from the government and private sector innovations to provide funding solutions for senior living are going to become critical—especially over the next two and three years.

To read more about the AARP’s legislative priorities, click here.