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If you are among the wave of Baby Boomers about to begin enrolling in Medicare you may be in for some tough times. Recent stories in Financial-Planning.com and USA Today report that the number of doctors refusing new Medicare patients is reaching a record high—and it’s not expected to improve anytime soon, especially since last month “Congress failed to stop an automatic 21% cut in payments that doctors already regard as too low.” Doctors simply feel they cannot afford to treat Medicare patients anymore.

Here are some of the distressing details you’ll find in the USA Today article:

• The American Academy of Family Physicians says 13% of respondents didn’t participate in Medicare last year, up from 8% in 2008 and 6% in 2004.
• The American Osteopathic Association says 15% of its members don’t participate in Medicare and 19% don’t accept new Medicare patients. If the cut is not reversed, it says, the numbers will double.
• The American Medical Association says 17% of more than 9,000 doctors surveyed restrict the number of Medicare patients in their practice. Among primary care physicians, the rate is 31%.

What this means for seniors is that although you may be able to qualify for Medicare you may not necessarily be able to count on it. But you can take action to ensure that a crisis for Medicare doesn’t mean a crisis for you. Your financial advisor or estate planner can help you determine what options you have regarding long-term care, asset protection, and even using alternate strategies in conjunction with Medicare.

The days of being able to count on the government to take care of you in your old age may be coming to an end. It’s time to make your own luck and plan for your own future. Our office can help.

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The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance recently released a report on the costs of long-term care insurance, and the results were surprising. Most people mistakenly believe that long-term care insurance is going to be expensive and difficult; but in fact, according to the report, “over one-fourth [of buyers under the age of 61] paid less than $999-per-year.” And in fact, “fewer than one in 10 (9.3%) pay $3,500 or more.”

This is great news! This means that long-term care insurance could cost you less than $100 per month! The trick is that you have to think about it early. “Age at the time of application plays an important role in determining the cost for long-term care insurance the Association study reports. While 41.5 percent of buyers under age 61 pay between $500 and $1,499-per-year, only 20.8 percent of buyers who are ages 61-to-75 pay within this range.”

This is not to imply that if you’re over the age of 75 you’re out of luck. You’re not likely to get the same great rates as someone in their 50’s, but you still may not have to pay an arm and a leg for long-term care insurance. According to the report, of applicants aged 76 and older only 28.2% end up paying an annual premium of $4,000 a year or higher. Actually, almost half of applicants in this age range still end up paying less than $2,500 a year. This may not be the attractive $500/year you could have gotten in your 50’s, but it also isn’t the thousands of dollars a month most people seem to be afraid long-term care insurance is going to cost them. In fact, it’s only a little over $200/month.

If you’ve been thinking about long-term care insurance, don’t wait any longer. This is one situation where time is not on your side; the quicker you act the better it will be.

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From a recent announcement on PR Newswire:

“Many Americans seem confused and immobilized by a key part of the recent Health Reform legislation, the CLASS Act, which will offer a form of long term care insurance for working people and others who may become disabled. ‘CLASS’ stands for Community Living Assistance Services and Supports, and the program, a legacy of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, is intended to offer new choice and security for millions now at risk. But, ‘we find that the public doesn’t know how to react,’ says Denise Gott, Chairman of the Board of LTC Financial Partners LLC (LTCFP), one of the nation’s most experienced long term care insurance agencies.”

The new Health Care Reform will almost surely affect your long term care plan, but is it too soon to know exactly how? You don’t want to be caught without coverage, but you also don’t want to make any decisions without having all the facts.

To help you discover how health care reform may affect your long term care plans, the link above provides access to a newly released 2010 Long Term Care Guide complete with healthcare reform update. Don’t let your family be caught off-guard.

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What will you be doing when you’re 73? If you think you will have earned the right to have someone take care of you, think again; you may end up serving as a caregiver for someone else. A recent article in the New York Times describes a new trend in caregiving: the elderly are being cared for increasingly by the elderly. According to the article, “Professional caregivers — almost all of them women — are one of the fastest-growing segments of the American work force, and also one of the grayest.”

As odd as it may sound, the arrangement of 55-75 year olds caring for 85-100 year olds often works out beautifully. Older caregivers may not be able to do much heavy lifting, but what they are able to do is connect with their charges. Many older caregivers have already spent months or years caring for their parents or spouse, so they have an understanding of the fear, frustration and stress the families are going through. In addition, because older caregivers often share similar culture and experiences, the relationship can end up turning into a friendship, as with the case of Grace Jackson and Mary-Lou O’Neill:

“Grace Jackson, who is 101, said she never wanted a helper at home and resented Mary-Lou O’Neill, 73, when she arrived four years ago at Ms. Jackson’s daughters’ insistence. But as their relationship has grown, ‘It’s developed into a friendship,’ Ms. Jackson said, adding that friends who had younger aides were often offended by their manners or language.”

The down side to this “graying trend” in caregiving is that most of these elderly women—in spite of how they excel and make the best of their situation—become caregivers because they have to, they can’t afford to retire completely, even at the age of 70 or 75. The time to think about your own future is now. Talk to your advisors about planning for your own retirement; because although you may have everything it takes to be a wonderful caregiver in your senior years, the fact is that you may not want to.

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Are you ready for the financial implications that come with growing older? As the average American lifespan grows longer the cost of aging becomes more and more prohibitive.

A recent segment on NBC’s The Today Show is takes a close look at long-term care and the price individuals and couples are required to pay as age related illnesses make it more and more difficult for senior citizens to live at home without care.

The show tells the story of “Roberta” and her husband, a couple married for 44 years, who felt there was no choice but to divorce after Roberta’s husband was diagnosed with dementia and the subsequent nursing home bills quickly depleted their assets. After paying no less than $75,000 in care costs, Roberta was advised by her attorney that one of the only ways to conserve her remaining assets for her own support would be to divorce her husband, allowing him to qualify for Medicaid coverage.

With growing numbers of senior citizens being diagnosed with debilitating elderly illnesses, and the cost of nursing care on the rise, more and more couples are finding that without some kind of long term care insurance they simply can’t afford the cost of aging. Medicaid can help, but as the story of Roberta and her husband shows, Medicaid doesn’t come without its own price.

Plan ahead for your own old age by talking to your advisors about Medicaid and your options for long-term care insurance.

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Do you need long-term care insurance? You may think you’re too young to think about that quite yet, but what about your parents? If you’re reading this blog it’s likely that your parents are at an age where they soon may need some sort of care, whether that will be in-home care, nursing care, or even need to stay in a nursing facility; if your parents haven’t planned ahead for this eventuality, the burden for their care—either financial or physical or both—may fall on you.

It is for this very reason that a new trend in long-term care insurance seems to be emerging. According to this article by Stacy Schultz, there is an upswing in the purchase of long-term care insurance by the Boomer Generation—except the insurance isn’t for the Boomers themselves, it’s for their parents. “Many of them have just had a relative go through being in a nursing home, and they see the devastation and the stress it causes,” quotes the article. “They’re concerned about mom and dad, and if their parents don’t have a lot of means they want to buy insurance for them.”

If you are considering buying long-term care insurance, either for yourself or your parents, you have a number of options, especially compared to even just a few years ago. Forbes.com recently published an article outlining the improvements in long-term insurance, and what your options are if you’re buying it today.

Take an hour or two this month to talk to your parents (or your kids) and advisors about what the coming years have in store. You may not need long-term care insurance, but you will certainly need a plan, and it’s never a bad idea to know your options, especially when it comes to protecting your future. In the lives of many Boomers, protecting their own future also means protecting their parents’ futures.

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Where you live is a defining aspect of your character throughout your life. Your “hometown” often plays a large part in the formation of your character; as adults we decorate our homes to reflect our interests, hobbies and loves; and the neighborhoods in which we choose to raise our children (city, farm, suburb) tell us a lot about our underlying values and where we feel safe and secure.

The idea that where you live is an important part of who you are doesn’t diminish as you get older—in fact, the longer you’ve lived in a place the more it seems to become a part of who you are, and vice-versa—so it’s no wonder that seniors are as choosy about where they live as any of the rest of us. What follows are some of the options for senior living arrangements. What you and your loved one will choose will depend on health, finances, community support, and of course—your family.

Most seniors would prefer to stay in the home they’ve known and loved. A senior or retirement community may look perfectly nice to a son or daughter; but mom or dad may see the retirement community as a first step toward losing their independence and being forgotten. Many senior citizens can stay in their homes for quite some time so long as they have the support of family and community and perhaps the help of an in-home caregiver.

Another option for housing is a senior or retirement community. These are often independent communities which provide age-segregated living opportunities for seniors who are still active. They usually provide social activities, regular transportation around town, and some personal care or nursing services. These communities can be the perfect solution for a still active senior who is unable to drive anymore, but be very cautious when choosing a community; with no regulation or governing body the non-social services they provide can be suspect.

A nursing home is the most drastic option for senior living, and is usually reserved for chronically ill people who need medical care and regulation in addition to help with the most basic of daily tasks. The decision to use a nursing home is a difficult and emotional one, and should not be put off to the last minute. Not only because nursing homes are expensive, and require as much advance financial planning as possible, but also because finding the right nursing facility for your loved one can take time.

Whatever housing option you are looking for, don’t be afraid to ask for professional help or advice. A Geriatric Care Manager, Elder Care Support Services, or an Estate Planning or Elder Law Attorney can help your family make and implement this tough decision.

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In the estate planning business we help people plan for the future, not only for their children and heirs but for themselves as well; which is why we are pleased to share the news that it just got a little bit easier to plan for your own financial future, because according to this article on Emax Health the IRS has just approved higher tax deductions for long-term care insurance.

Advancements in health care and our standard of living mean that Americans are living longer than ever before, but that doesn’t mean they’re living better in their old age. Very few of us get to be healthy and hearty until our dying days; rather, most aging Americans will experience a slow decline in their mental and physical health, and require some kind of nursing care, either at home or in a nursing facility. Unfortunately, the cost of that care is prohibitively expensive, and once a patient’s own financial resources have been exhausted the burden then falls on their family, or they end up relying on government benefits.

Long-term care insurance is one way of planning ahead to pay for the nursing care that most of us will almost assuredly need. The higher tax deductions approved by the IRS offer one more reason to consider long-term care insurance: by planning for your future you can save on your taxes right now. But do your research and consult with a professional before you jump in, because the deductions are available only on “qualified” policies, and there are limits to how large a premium can be deducted depending on the age of the taxpayer at the end of the year.

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Alzheimer’s disease affects as many as 5.3 million people in the United States; which means it affects as many as 5.3 million families, because Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects everybody it touches—husbands, wives, children and grandchildren—they all bear witness to their loved one’s slow demise.

Sadly, emotional stress is not the only stress that accompanies Alzheimer’s disease; those loved ones serving as caretakers may carry a huge amount of financial stress as well. According to this article by Denise Bonilla the cost of caring for an Alzheimer’s patient can run anywhere from $64 a day to $77,380 a year, and because Alzheimer’s disease can be such a long-lasting disease (a person can suffer from Alzheimer’s for up to 20 years) the costs of care can end up being astronomical. It’s obvious that people can’t do it alone.

Some of the options to help Alzheimer’s patients pay for medical expenses are long-term care insurance or Medicaid (Medicare doesn’t cover the cost of long-term care). Long-term care insurance can be very helpful… if you’ve thought ahead and purchased the policy before you or your spouse began suffering from symptoms of Alzheimer’s. As for the government programs, those also can be helpful… if you fall in the right category and know how to navigate the complex system.

Unfortunately, learning how to navigate the system is not something you can do in an hour or two. Because your experience will depend on a number of unique factors we can’t give you an easy set of instructions to follow. The best advice we can give is to say that right now, the best way to navigate the Medicaid/Medi-Cal system is to find someone who knows the system to assist you. Most estate planning and elder law attorneys help their clients with these issues on a regular basis. If you want to ensure that you and your loved ones will be cared for no matter what the future may bring, don’t be afraid to ask your attorney for help.

www.blogprofs.com

It’s no secret that long-term care insurance companies can and often do raise premiums on policyholders. Still, a few companies have been able to truthfully say “we’ve never had a rate increase.”

Now, one of the biggest players in the industry, Genworth Financial, can no longer claim that. For the first time, Genworth has said it will raise premiums for existing policyholders. The company has filed in all 50 states for premium increases of 8 percent to 12 percent on most of the policies it sold before 1997.

According to the Dow Jones Newswires, Genworth’s move has raised fears that the long-term care insurance industry may return to the dark days when many insurers raised premiums rapidly, and some sold off policies and exited the business altogether.

Pressure on insurers to keep premiums low and level has made the products unrealistically cheap, Cynthia Zalewsky, founder of Saratoga Investment Solutions, told Dow Jones.

“Clients might not think they’re cheap,” Zalewsky said, “but they’re cheap.”

The principal reason for Genworth’s rate rise is that its actuaries overestimated the percentage of policyholders who would let their policies lapse — that is, stop paying for coverage, forfeiting all premiums paid to that point.

Genworth’s actuaries were counting on 5.5 percent of all consumers who bought policies before 1997 at some point voluntarily ceasing coverage. In fact, only 1.5 percent have dropped their coverage before claiming benefits.

According to Dow Jones, “financial advisors who know the products well are almost unanimous in predicting that more [insurer rate] increases lie ahead.”