LTC Bullet: Moses and Shelton on NPR re LTCi Wednesday,
September 6, 2006 Seattle-- LTC
Comment: Center president
Steve Moses and LTCi author and trainer Phyllis Shelton held forth on
the importance and value of long-term care insurance last weekend on
National Public Radio. A
link and excerpts after the ***news.*** ***
REMINDER. The Center for
Long-Term Care Reform is going offline from September 8 until the 29th.
That does not mean we won't be fighting on your behalf for
rational long-term care policy. It just means we won't be publishing our weekly LTC
Bullets, our daily LTC E-Alerts, or the LTC Blog at www.centerltc.com.
Except for one week (9/11-18/06), someone will be on duty at the
Center to take your calls, answer your questions, and sign you up if
you're not yet a member. So
stay in touch. *** ***
ELDER ABUSE IRONY. In an
otherwise excellent column on financial abuse of the elderly by their
families, WSJ writer Jeff Opdyke says this: "Establish
a relationship with a local elder-law attorney . . .. These lawyers can help set up legal safeguards.
More important: They can read between the lines if you show up with someone
else in tow looking to change your will or power-of-attorney." Source:
Jeff D. Opdyke, Wall Street Journal, "Intimate
Betrayal: When the Elderly
Are Robbed by Their Family Members," August 30, 2006, Page D1, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115689331870748918.html?mod=djemPJ
(subscription required.) Here's
our comment to Mr. Opdyke: "How
ironic that you point readers to elder law attorneys whose cash cow is
artificially impoverishing frail and infirm elderly (usually at the
behest of their adult children) to qualify them for welfare-financed
long-term care, the biggest swindle of the elderly of all.
Google "Medicaid planning," then give me a call if
you're interested in learning more.
I wrote a WSJ op-ed on the subject last December:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113477649883625141.html.
Steve Moses" *** ***
GET ON BOARD. See what
we're up against? The
national media gives credence to Medicaid planners; private industry
cedes the moral high ground to poverty-makers; and LTCi producers are
left holding the bag. It
does not have to be this way. Help
us make the ethical case for responsible long-term care planning.
If you're not yet a member of the Center for Long-Term Care
Reform, now's the time to join. Contact
Damon at 206-283-7036 or damon@centerltc.com.
Then enjoy our publications, the rich content at www.centerltc.com,
our password-protected website The Zone, and the Center's LTC Forum
online bulletin board. Help
us fight for rational long-term care policy. *** LTC
BULLET: MOSES AND SHELTON
ON NPR RE LTCI LTC
Comment: Last weekend,
American Public Media's "Marketplace Money" show aired a story
on long-term care insurance by National Public Radio reporter Nancy
Farghalli. Center president
Steve Moses and long-time Center member and supporter Phyllis Shelton
were featured. You can
listen to the show and read a transcript by following a link at www.centerltc.com
or go directly to http://marketplacemoney.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/09/01/longterm_care_insurance/.
Have
you ever been quoted in the media?
If so, perhaps you've had the feeling you were misquoted or
misinterpreted. Reporters
almost never get your meaning exactly right.
But what if, as on radio, your own words from your own mouth are
aired. Still, out of context, they may seem to mean something you
didn't intend. Phyllis and
I have commiserated about this, but decided "There's no such thing
as bad publicity." Can
you tell from our broadcasted comments what was taken out of context? Just
remember this: millions
more people have heard the importance of long-term care planning
emphasized yet again in a public broadcast medium trusted implicitly by
many Americans. ------------- Excerpts:
"Seniors
are living longer and the cost of elder care is rising.
There are long-term care policies that lower the costs of nursing
homes and assisted living centers.
But are they worth the price?
Nancy Farghalli reports. . . . "Jean
[Rosenfield] is 78 years old. In
March, she underwent quadruple bypass surgery.
She's recovering at home thanks to Delia, her home health aide. .
. . "Jean's
long-term care insurance policy covers Delia.
That's because Jean can no longer bathe or dress by herself.
Jean calls her insurance policy a lifeline. "ROSENFIELD:
I think it is the most important and necessary thing for all
people, because they always say about life insurance and that is when
you die, but what about the living? "Most
people don't buy long-term care policies. Steve
Moses is the President of the Center for Long-term Care Reform.
He says older people rely on federal programs such as Medicaid
and Medicare. But those
programs don't always cover long-term home health care or assisted
living facilities. "STEVE
MOSES: People don't take
the risk seriously and they don't plan for it.
And they don't insure for it in any greater numbers than they do,
which is five to 10 percent of the general population. "Once
those people have the policies, they don't want to give them up. "MOSES:
It turns out once somebody has a long-term care policy, once they
have it, you can't tear it out of their cold dead fingers.
I mean they stick with it and with so few policies lapsing
companies have ended up with more claims to pay. "For
that reason, some companies have hiked premiums. That's led to some proposed changes in the insurance
industry-like penalties for unexpected rate increases. "Long-term
care expert and author Phyllis Shelton: "PHYLLIS
SHELTON: The policies today
are what's called guaranteed renewable and in insurance lingo that just
means that the company can't cancel you as long as the company is in
business and as long as you pay your premium.
There can be a class rate increase, which means on an entire
group of people but never on a person, alone. . . . "[Estelle]
Marco is the director of this private-pay facility where monthly rents
range from $2,500 to $6,800. About
10 percent of the residents have some form of long-term care insurance.
Marco says many people who tour the facility want policies. "ESTELLE
MARCO: Out of 10 tours,
maybe two have it. Out of
10 tours, nine wish they had it. . . . "I'm Nancy Farghalli for Marketplace Money." |