Changing Aging

Hope you had a great Labor Day Weekend.  Welcome back to Changing Aging!

The New York Times’ “New Old Age” blog last Thursday had Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts provide analysis on why long-term care hasn’t thus far been a big topic with the Presidential candidates thus far.  She answers the question:

Why are the candidates (mostly) silent on long-term care?”

Please add your thoughts.

Also, download a new Ecumen white paper by Kathryn:

“Long Term Care Financing Reform: An Incredible Opportunity for Candidates Who Desire Positive Change in America“

For our Twin Cities-area readers:

If you’d like to sign up for the Age Wave event we’re hosting on August 13th, please sign up by August 6th here.

Ecumen, the Citizens League, 2020 Conference and Minnesota Chamber of Commerce are hosting Nebraska State Treasurer Shane Osborne and Trent Fellers, who directs Nebraska’s new Long-Term Care Savings Plan.  They will share details of Nebraska’s new tax deferred savings plan for long-term care.  It’s the first and only savings plan of its kind in the country.

Mary Alice Ryan is president and CEO of St. Andrew’s Resources for Seniors, a multi-faceted non-profit senior housing and services organization in St. Louis, Missouri.  She wrote a great article on  transforming long-term care financing that you can read here.

It’s unfathomable that Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama are not discussing long-term care financing reform as part of their health care and economic policy and visions.   Ecumen today distributed a news release that gives them 10 Reasons to Start Discussing Long-Term Care Financing Reform. Below is a copy of it.

Ecumen Provides Presidential Candidates 10 Top Reasons to Discuss Long-Term Care Financing Reform

Senior housing and services provider Ecumen highlights reasons for financing reforms necessary in the American age wave

The other day we wrote about the long-term care financing solution put forth by the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA).

AAHSA CEO Larry Minnix has just blogged an update on the work in this reform area, including discussions with the McCain and Obama campaigns.

Good stuff.

Following are highlights of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) framework for financing long-term care, which was presented at the recent forum at the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute.  Earlier we outlined the AARP plan here.  To read more about The Long-Term Solution by AAHSA, go here:

Key Features

• Cash should be the one, if not the only, choice of benefits to be used at the beneficiary’s discretion.
• Benefits should be tied to a simple level of need based on functional status, not age.

Here are 10 reasons why we have to change the way our country pays for long-term care.  Please add others:

1.  The Age Wave is Unprecendented:  About 10 million Americans need long-term care today.  (Note: Long-term care is an array of services, from home care to assisted living, not simply nursing home care.)  By 2020, 12 million older Americans will need long-term care.

2.  Americans Want More Choice:  People want more choices than ever in how they live and receive care.  The nursing home isn’t a place they want to choose. Guess what?  Many states rely on institutional nursing homes for long-term care.   To pay for choices that today’s consumer desires, we have to have new ways to pay for care.

Fidelity Investments estimates in a new study released Thursday that a 65-year old couple in 2008 will need $85,000 to insure against long-term care expenses

Do you have your $85,000?

Just when you think there aren’t issues that Red and Blue America can agree on, there comes this little thing called aging that we’re all doing and want to do well. 

On Wednesday a packed auditorium at the University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs participated in a discussion about financing long-term care in America. And what one saw was a great issue opportunity for Red and Blue America to forge common ground.  As several panelists, including a Republican state legislator, said: Aging isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue.

Who is going to pay for the unprecedented numbers of seniors who will need care? 

How will they pay? 

What are better ways to pay than what America has today?

Your’re invited to a discussion about potential approaches to long-term care financing reform and what states can do to be national leaders in creating solutions.  The conference is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, Minnesota Health and Housing Alliance, American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), and American Association of Retired Persons Minnesota (AARP).  Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts will be one of the panelists.