National Advisory Center for Short Term Care director expert Jesse Slome

July 15, 2015, Los Angeles, CA –   A study of twelve short term care insurance policies examines policy features including Benefit Period, Elimination Period and Optional Riders.

The study was conducted by CSG Actuarial and reported by the National Advisory Center for Short Term Care Information, part of the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance (AALTCI).

“Changes in health care insurance benefits, Medicare coverage and long-term care insurance are creating heightened interest in short-term care or recovery care products,” explains Jesse Slome, director of the National Advisory Center for Short Term Care Information.  Short-term care products are defined as those providing coverage for one year or less.

“There is potential for significant growth,” says Bryan Neary, FSA, MAAA, Principal and Consulting Actuary for Omaha-based CSG Actuarial.  “Several new insurers are entering the marketplace and policy sales and premium should grow in the years to come.”

According to the study, 91.7 percent of the companies offered policies with a 360 day Benefit Period (BP).  Some 83.3 percent offered a 150-200 day option and half (50.0%) offered a 90-day BP.

“One of the features that makes these products extremely attractive is the ability to select a 0-day Elimination Period (EP),” Slome explains.  “Most traditional long-term care insurance policies require that a doctor certify a need for care lasting longer than 90 days and have a 90-day EP.  With a 0-day EP the policyholder accesses policy benefits early on when they need care.”

The study found that 66.7 percent of available policies offered a 0-day Elimination Period.  Some 75 percent offered a 20-day EP and a third (33.3%) offered a 30-day E.P.

Just over half of the policies (58.3%) offered an inflation growth rider that increased base benefits by five percent compounded annually.  Half (50.0%) offered an five percent simple inflation option.

Based in Los Angeles, CA., the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance and the National Advisory Center for Short Term Care Information were established to create consumer awareness and support insurance professionals who market protection products.  To learn more about short-term care insurance products, visit the special section within the AALTCI website (www.aaltci.org/stc).

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long term care insurance guide for women on their own

planning.  The guide will be available beginning later this week, AALTCI announced.

“Women face a significant risk of needing long term care and actually receive 66 percent of all long term care insurance benefit dollars paid out yearly,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.   The head of the national trade group just authored a new consumer planning guide for the millions of women on their own.

“There are millions of women between the ages of 50 and 65 who are single, divorced or widowed,” Slome noted.  “They not only face a great risk of needing care one day but lack the built-in caregiver of a spouse and many don’t have adult children they can call on if a need for care occurs.  Planning is so important for women, but we believe it is especially important for the category we refer to as women on their own.”

The new guide was produced by the Association to help insurance professionals reach out to prospects in light of pending higher insurance costs for women recently announced by several leading long term care insurance companies.  “Women will start to pay more for this important protection with some states implementing the rate increases in April,” Slome reports.  “The window is closing for women to lock in the lower unisex rates still being offered by some insurers, but that will likely end at some point this year.”

The new guide is available in electronic format allowing insurance professionals to attach copies to emails, post on their websites and offer via blogs and other media.  Guides are personalized with the agent’s contact information, photograph and other personalization.

The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance focuses on educating both consumers and insurance professionals.  The new guide is available exclusively to members of the organization and can be viewed via the organization’s member benefits section.  The cost for personaliuzed versions of the guide will be $35, a one-time charge.

For additional information visit the organization’s website or call the national organization at 818-597-3227.

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New research finds that many extremely old people appear to have indulged in poor health habits during their younger years. 

“Millions of Americans are living into their 80s, 90s and even past 100,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  The national organization focuses on educating consumers about the importance of planning for long-term care.

“The research is welcome news for those of us who have difficulty resisting temptation,” Slome notes.  “But of course, your lifestyle choices matter so I wouldn’t drop the gym membership quite yet.”  According to the scientists, genes seem to provide an extra boost to those who end up living the longest. 

They note that the genetic component that allows people to survive into extreme old age is probably a very powerful one.  In their report, they explain that genes and hereditary factors even counteract the effects of unhealthy lifestyle choices. 

The study focused on the genes of extremely old people living independently at ages 95 to 109.  Researchers  asked them to recall things such as their weight, height, alcohol consumption, smoking and their physical activity at age 70.  Those participating were also asked whether they ate a low-calorie, low-fat or low-salt diet at that age. 

All the subjects were Ashkenazi Jews, who share a similar genetic heritage.  The researchers then compared the responses to those from a group of over 3,000 people who took part in a survey in the 1970s. At the time, they were at about the same ages as the elderly subjects who appear in the new study. 

The scientists found that our centenarians by and large did not adhere to any specific healthful diet more than the other population did. It was the same for smoking and exercise. Only 43 percent of men aged 95 and older, for example, reported engaging in regular exercise of moderate intensity, compared with 57 percent of men in the comparison group. 

However, there was one interesting difference. Researchers found that although men and women aged 95 and older were just as likely to be overweight as their counterparts in the general population, the centenarians were significantly less likely to become obese. 

One-third reported a history of family longevity, while 20 percent believed that physical activity also played a role in their long life. Others attributed a positive attitude (19 percent), a busy or active life (12 percent), less smoking and drinking (15 percent), good luck (8 percent), and religion or spirituality (6 percent) to their centenarian status.

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“Cognitive disorders including Alzheimer’s are a leading cause of costly long-term care each year for millions of Americans,” Slome explains, “and few Americans are taking planning steps in terms of health or finances to prepare.”

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that damages and destroys brain cells.  The prevalence of dementia increases with advancing age and affects about 30 percent of people over 80 years of age, costing more than $40,000 per patient annually in the United States, according to AALTCI.

The new RAND study is the largest of its type to examine whether living in a poor neighborhood is associated with lower cognitive function.

Researchers noted that their findings provide the best evidence yet that living in a neighborhood with lower socioeconomic standing can have an impact on women’s cognitive abilities in late life.  Researchers analyzed information collected from over 6,000 women from across the United States who were surveyed as a part of the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study, an ancillary study to the Women’s Health Initiative hormone therapy trials.

The women from nearly 40 locations nationwide who were 65 years old or older and free of dementia were enrolled in the memory study over a three year time period. All the women in the study were given a standard test that measures cognitive function by assessing items such as memory, reasoning and spatial functions.

Researchers found that women who lived in neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic status were substantially more likely to have low cognitive scores than similar women who lived in more affluent neighborhoods.

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Slome noted that the reduced funding was the result of a finding that revealed nursing home care providers have been paid more than $2 billion above federal projections since a new payment system took effect late last year.

“Nursing homes have become dependent on government payments from both Medicare and Medicaid,” Slome told a group of consumers on a call today. “These taxpayer-supported programs just can no longer foot the billions of dollars and we fully expect government coverage for many such programs will be especially cut for middle income and affluent individuals in the form of more cost-sharing or reduced benefits.”

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Donald M. Berwick, M.D. said the adjustments are part of an effort to pay skilled care operators “properly” in the next fiscal year.

The recalibration will result in a reduction to skilled nursing facility payments of $4.47 billion or 12.6%, according to CMS. However, that drops to an 11.1% cut when offsetting increases are factored in, Slome explains. “Less money will ultimately result in poorer care and we’ll be facing a society where those with means will be able to pay for care and others will be forced to depend on whatever taxpayer-paid benefits are available at the time.”

“We have long said that aging baby boomers who fail to plan for the risk of needing long-term care will wake up to find out their options are seriously limited,” Slome added. “A failure to plan is simply a plan for failure.” The Association director reports that sales of long-term care insurance are increasing in 2011. “In spite of a difficult economy, more Americans realize they had better take some action while they can still health qualify for this protection.”

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A new report issued by the American Heart Association explains the link.  Cognitive impairments are also known as dementia and include difficulty with thinking, reasoning and memory.  They noted the impairment can be caused by vascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, a combination of both and other causes.

Medical experts explain that atherosclerosis is a build- up of plaque in the arteries associated with elevated blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking and other risk factors.   According to the study, when it restricts or blocks blood flow to the brain, it is called cerebrovascular disease, which can result in vascular cognitive impairment, explains Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  “Cognitive disorders including Alzheimer’s are the leading cause of costly long-term care for millions of Americans,” Slome explains, “and few are taking steps in terms of health or finances to prepare.”

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that damages and destroys brain cells.  The medical experts reported that cerebrovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease may work together to cause cognitive impairment and the mixed disorder may be the most common type of dementia in older persons.

The prevalence of dementia increases with advancing age and affects about 30 percent of people over 80 years of age, costing more than $40,000 per patient annually in the United States, according to AALTCI.

Treating risk factors for heart disease and stroke with lifestyle changes and medical management may prevent or slow the development of dementia in some people, the report’s authors noted.  Generally speaking, what is good for the heart is good for the brain they noted. 

Reducing high blood pressure is recommended to reduce the risk of vascular cognitive impairment. High blood pressure in mid-life may be an important risk factor for cognitive decline later in life.  In addition, smoking cessation could lessen the risk of vascular cognitive impairment.

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The results showed that the quality-adjusted life years lost to obesity are equal to, or greater than, those lost because of smoking.

From 1993 to 2008, the number of adult smokers decreased 18.5 percent and smoking-related quality-adjusted life years lost remained relatively stable at 0.0438 quality-adjusted life years lost per population. Over that same time, the proportion of obese Americans increased 85 percent, resulting in 0.0464 quality-adjusted life years lost. Obesity had a larger effect on disease, while smoking had a greater impact on deaths, the researchers found.

Although life expectancy and quality-adjusted life expectancy have increased over time, the increase in the contribution of mortality to quality-adjusted life years lost from obesity may result in a decline in future life expectancy.

The study is published in the February issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Another recent study concluded that if both smoking and obesity rates in the United States remain unchanged, life expectancy in the nation will be reduced by almost nine months. That study was published in the Dec. 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. 

Posted by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  Visit our website to obtain a free quote for this important protection.

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