|
|
The Long
Island Association Long Term Care
Program |
|
07//08 |
Volume 6, Issue5 |
|
In my Opinion "The most
important thing about long term care insurance is that it enhances the
quality of your life when it might otherwise be greatly diminished by
illness, disability or the frailty of old age" Katherine
Del R osso, Quality Work Time? 84% of
employees report using work hours to care for an adult. Met Life Mature
Market Institute What Are The
Odds of Needing LTC Insurance..? Currently, 6
out of every 10 Americans who turn 65 may need LTC at some point in their
lives Conning &
Co. LTC Insurance-Baby Boom or Bust 1999
Your Company
Options · Voluntary Salary Deduction or Direct Bill · Affinity Discount Program applies to employees and family members. Voluntary or company paid. · Company Paid-Key Man Carve Out and voluntary for other classes · Company Paid core benefits and add ons employee paid · Company
Paid 100% tax deductible
E-mail:queenltc@aol.com www.LiaLongTermCare.com |
Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 is signed into law. Click here to read press release from President Bush. Major impact on Medicaid Planning. Highlights below as written by Phyllis Shelton: Here are the major changes for Medicaid: Extend the lookback period for all asset transfers from three to five years Change the start of the penalty period to the date of eligibility, not the date of transfer Any individual with home equity above $500,000 would be ineligible but the states can raise the threshold as high as $750,000 The state would have to be named as beneficiary on annuities Any money that is still available from the entrance fee to a CCRC would have to be spent down before applying for Medicaid Require the "income-first" rule on the allocation of monthly income for the community spouse A life estate will be counted as an asset unless the purchaser resides in the home for at least one year after the date of purchase Funds to purchase a promissory note, loan or mortgage will be counted as assets unless the repayment terms are actuarially sound, provide for equal payments and prohibit the cancellation of the balance upon the death of the lender. States will be barred from “rounding down” fractional periods of ineligibility when determining ineligibility periods resulting from asset transfers. States will be permitted to treat multiple transfers of assets as a single transfer and begin any penalty period on the earliest date that would apply to such transfers. One major fear is that nursing homes will get stuck with patients who have transferred their assets, since the penalty period will start on the date of eligibility. There will probably be some of this in the short-term, but in the long run, nursing homes will get paid MORE as more patients have LTC insurance and can afford the private-pay rate vs. the lower Medicaid rate. In states that have so-called "filial responsibility laws," the nursing homes may seek reimbursement from the residents' children. Go to The National Center for Policy Analysis at http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba521/ for a recent article that says over half the states have such a law on the books. This will never be enforced, you say? Pennsylvania re-enacted its provision in 2005 so that is at least one state that has it top of mind. Now that this federal legislation has passed, I think you will see many more states acting aggressively about Medicaid planning, which all of a sudden makes long-term care insurance look mighty attractive. Also, this bill contains the authorization to extend the LTCI Partnership to all states – a huge boon to the LTCI industry. Go to Vol. 1 of my newsletter, The LTCI Harvest, at www.ltciharvest.com and check out "State News" for an article about the states that have passed enabling legislation so they can be ready to start implementing Partnership plans as soon as the President signs the budget bill and it’s finally approved.
Pembi Planning Corp. All rights reserved ă 2/2006 |
