 LTC Bullet: "Medi-Cal LTC: Safety Net or Hammock?" Report Released Wednesday, January 5, 2010 Seattle-- LTC Comment: We show how to save Medi-Cal's LTC safety net, reduce expenditures, and improve LTC access and quality in the Golden State, after the ***news.***
*** IT'S CONFERENCE SEASON, so please take note: The Eleventh Annual Intercompany Long Term Care Insurance Conference will be held from March 6 to March 9, 2011 at the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, Georgia. The deadline for early bird registration is Thursday, January 13, 2011. Register soon at www.ILTCIconf.org to save the extra $100. Organizers strongly recommend that you make your hotel reservations quickly to receive the special $129 per night rate. If you have any questions, please contact Jim Glickman at 818-867-2223. The Ninth National LTCi Producers Summit organized by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance takes place April 3-5, 2011 in Las Vegas. Early bird registration is $279 ($328 for non-members) only through January 7. It's a 3-day event that brings together hundreds of producers, agencies, and insurers. This year, Connie Garner who spearheaded the passage of the CLASS Act will attend to speak and address questions. So will CEOs of leading LTC insurers who'll answer questions about the future of the industry. All Summit details are online at http://www.aaltci.org/2011summit/index.html or by calling (818) 597-3227. *** *** "TWO NEW GUIDES detailing the higher 2011 tax
deductible limits and regulations pertaining to long-term care insurance
protection have been published by the American Association for Long-Term
Care Insurance. Over 1.1 million copies of the annually-produced guides
have been used by insurance and financial professionals."
LTC BULLET: "MEDI-CAL LTC: SAFETY NET OR HAMMOCK?" REPORT RELEASED LTC Comment: Today, the Pacific Research Institute released our report on Medicaid and long-term care financing in California titled "Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?" PRI's press release follows below. Find links to the full study and a longer version of the press release here: http://www.pacificresearch.org/publications/medi-cal-long-term-care. The report is also posted on the Center's website here http://www.centerltc.com/pubs/Medi-Cal_LTC--Safety_Net_or_Hammock.pdf Now, check out the "movie" PRI prepared spoofing Medi-Cal's egregious LTC eligibility loopholes as documented in the report: http://www.youtube.com/user/pacificresearch1 - p/a/u/0/eyOpCWIJYC4. We at the Center for Long-Term Care Reform wish to thank the Pacific Research Institute and its staff for their thoughtful and creative work to bring this report to publication and to promote it with ingenuity and humor. ------------
A Poor Safety Net for Needy Seniors, But a Hammock for the Middle Class San Francisco-The continuous expansion of Medi-Cal long-term care benefits could cause a financial catastrophe in California according to a new report by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based think tank, in cooperation with the Center for Long-Term Care Reform. Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?, by Stephen A. Moses, president of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform, finds that easy access to Medi-Cal-financed long-term care (LTC) has caused many Californians to put off long-term care planning and rely on public assistance. The taxpayer price tag for Medi-Cal Long-Term Care was $12.5 billion in 2008 and will likely increase with the growing population of age-80-plus citizens in the state. "Conventional wisdom says that Medi-Cal long-term care eligibility requires poverty-level income and very low assets," said Mr. Moses, "But the truth is that most middle-class and even affluent people qualify for the program as a result of easy and elastic eligibility rules. Consequently, Medi-Cal LTC provides a safety net for too few of California's neediest citizens and a hammock for too many who could have afforded to plan for LTC." According to Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock?, Californians' excessive dependency on Medi-Cal, with its inadequate and uncertain reimbursements, has created a burden at all levels, debilitating access to care for the truly needy and privately uninsurable. Financing Medi-Cal LTC is a large and growing strain on California's budget. Yet federal law and regulations inhibit some effective corrective actions California could take. The report recommends that state officials:
"The basic problem is that Medi-Cal LTC does too much for too many too poorly," concluded Mr. Moses. "By applying these principles, long-term care services can do a better job of providing care for genuinely needy people who depend on a radically smaller and much less expensive social LTC safety net." You can watch a short video explaining the eligibility loopholes in the Medi-Cal LTC program on PRI's Youtube page. ### Medi-Cal Long-Term Care: Safety Net or Hammock? About PRI Center for Long-Term Care Reform _____________ This e-mail is the latest installment of "LTC Bullets" - the Center's periodic online news service covering the latest information and trends in long-term care financing. We welcome responses to the material presented. All past issues of "LTC Bullets" may be read on the Center's web site at http://www.centerltc.com If you get value from our "LTC Bullets", our web site, our reports, our speeches and our public policy advocacy, please consider contributing. Visit our website at http://www.centerltc.com/needhelp.htm or contact us at mailto:info@centerltc.com or 206-283-7036 for more details. You can show your support for the Center by subscribing to our Members-Only Zone through a secure server connection at http://www.centerltc.com/support/index.htm . Please refer to http://www.centerltc.com/DOZ_info.htm for more information on the Zone. *** REFERRALS and SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you know somebody who would be interested in this publication, please recommend us by clicking here http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/recommendus.htm. If you have received this edition as a forward, and would like your own subscription, you may subscribe here http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/subscribe_to_bullets.htm. *** *** Unsubscribe by simply using your reply button to send a request.
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