The ratings are derived from inspections, complaint investigations and other data collected.  Nearly all homes that repeatedly received only one or two stars are owned by for-profit corporations. 

“You can’t provide quality service if you are not receiving sufficient income to cover the neeed expenses,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  “With growing government deficits, those who need care in the future will have only two choices – have enough to pay the cost or own insurance to cover the cost.”

According to AALTCI.org, some 8.25 million Americans currently own long-term care insurance.  The cost of policies ranges from a few hundred dollars a year on up depending on the level of desired benefits.  For more information and to read a free guide, visit the organization’s website: <a href> http://www.aaltci.org/free-guide </a>.

The post Twenty Percent Of Nursing Homes Get Poor Quality Ratings appeared first on American Association for Long Term Care Insurance.

A growing number of people are threatened by dementia including Alzheimer’s disease as they get older explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the Americamn Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. Individuals who suffer from either disease can spend long periods of time in nursing homes or requiring care from family members.

Mid-life diseases particularly like diabetes and high blood pressure seem to be associated with a higher chance of developing dementia.   Researchers explain that this is the first large scale study to investigate whether angiotensin receptor blockers reduce the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Boston University School of Medicine researchers investigated the incidence of dementia in over 800,000 individuals in the US from 2002 to 2006. They were mostly (98 percent) male subjects. The participants had cardiovascular disease and were 65 years of age or older.

Research subjects were divided in three groups: one using angiotensin receptor blockers, another the blood pressure lowering drug lisinopril and the third using other comparative drugs used for heart disease.

The findings indicate that the group on angiotensin receptor blockers was significantly less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. In addition, they reveal that angiotensin receptor blockers have an additive effect when used in combination with another type of high blood pressure drug (ACE inhibitors). In fact, individuals with existing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia who took both medicines were less likely to die early or be admitted to nursing homes.

The study is the first to compare both risk of dementia and progression of dementia in users of angiotensin receptor blockers compared with users of a drug from the same class (lisinopril) or users of other drugs prescribed for cardiovascular disease.

The post Blood Pressure And Heart Disease Drugs May Help Fend Off Dementia appeared first on American Association for Long Term Care Insurance.

An estimated 70 percent of all nursing home residents have some degree of cognitive impairment.  

Every 72 seconds someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s disease according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, about 454,000 new cases each year.  By mid-century, experts predicy someone will develop the disease every 33 seconds.

Researchers found that the plaques first develop in the part of the mouse brain that’s devoted to the sense of smell. When tested, the mice with the plaques had to spend more time sniffing odors to remember them, and they had a hard time telling the difference between odors. 

They noted that performance of the mouse in the olfactory behavior test was sensitive to even the smallest amount of amyloid presence in the brain as early as 3 months of age (equivalent to a young adult).  “This is a revealing finding because, unlike a brain scan, a laboratory-designed olfactory test may be an inexpensive alternative to early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s the medical experts noted. 

The findings are reported in the Jan. 13 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

The post Loss Of Smell Mat Be Early Sign Of Alzheimer’s appeared first on American Association for Long Term Care Insurance.

Researchers had identified a variant of the gene for cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP) — involved in carrying cholesterol in the bloodstream — as being associated with a longer life span. They note that the longer you live, the more common is the favorable variant.  The incidence is 5 percent at age 50 and 35 percent at age 95. 

The new study followed over 500 people, all age 70 or older, for four years, testing their mental function and relating it to the variant of the CETP gene they carried.  Participants who carried two copies of the variant gene experienced an age-related decline in mental function that was about half as rapid as people with two normal versions of the gene, the study found. 

Individuals with two copies of the favorable CETP variant also had a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to those with two normal versions of the gene, the study found.  Researchers note that the gene is a a great candidate for further research on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. 

According to the researchers, the CETP gene variant was first identified in a population of Ashkenazi Jews, descendents of western and central Europeans. The current study was done among an ethnically diverse population of people living in the Bronx who have been followed for 25 years.

 The findings were reported in the Jan. 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

Reported by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, the national trade organization that tracks news related to long term health care issues.

The post Gene Reduces Alzheimer’s Disease Risk appeared first on American Association for Long Term Care Insurance.

An estimated 5.1 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance,  Every 72 seconds someone develops Alzheimer’s which is the leading and most costly long-term care condition. 

The long-term study completed by researchers at New York University tracked 213 adults with and without SCI over an average of seven years, with data collection taking nearly two decades. Further cognitive decline to MCI or dementia was observed in 54 percent of SCI persons, while only in 15 percent of persons free of SCI. 

Experts note that this is the first study to use mild cognitive impairment as well as dementia as an outcome criterion to demonstrate the outcome of SCI as a possible forerunner of eventual Alzheimer’s disease.  The findings indicate that a significant percentage of people with early subjective symptoms may experience further cognitive decline, whereas few persons without these symptoms decline. If decline does occur in those without SCI symptoms, it takes considerably longer than for those with subjective cognitive symptoms. 

Scientists and physicians can now target the prevention of eventual Alzheimer’s disease in the SCI stage, beginning more than 20 years before dementia becomes evident.

The post Subjective Memory Loss May Predict Dementia appeared first on American Association for Long Term Care Insurance.

That amounts to about $14.17 per Medicaid patient per day, according to Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, a national trade group.  “That’s a $5,200 annual shortfall per-patient a shortfall that adds up,” Slome notes.  “And, Medicaid payment rates are likely to sink further in 2010 and 2011 as states face bigger gaps between tax revenue and the demand for services by poorer residents in their state.”

The study, commissioned by the American Health Care Association (AHCA) noted that states are slashing budget programs to fill deficit holes. Also, funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the federal stimulus package, enacted this year will end at the end of 2010. 

One of the saddest realities of this year, as this study notes, is that states did not use money that they received from the stimulus package the way they were supposed to. The package offered states a temporary higher federal match on provider tax funds. But instead of using savings from the higher federal match to increase nursing home reimbursements or lower the provider tax rate, states used it to subsidize state budget deficits.

Experts note that nursing homes desperately need Medicaid funding. They have been underpaid for years and have been relying on Medicare to compensate for their shortfalls.  Now the situation appears even worse after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reduced Medicare payments in the fall. 

Robert Van Dyk, chairman of AHCA, sums up the situation well: “The substantial gap between the cost of providing quality care to seniors and what Medicaid actually pays—combined with the enormous pressure on state budgets caused by the ongoing recession—represents a clear and present danger to America’s most vulnerable frail, elderly and disabled citizens.” 

Slome concludes that the inability of taxpayers to continue paying the increasing cost of long-term care through government programs including Medicaid should give people a reason to consider self-reliant options including private long-term care insurance.

The post Budget Cuts Worsen Medicaid Shortfalls To Nursing Homes appeared first on American Association for Long Term Care Insurance.

Other states reporting the highest percentages were Louisiana (15.71%), California (15.19%), Illinois (14.74%), Ohio (14.56) and Maryland (14.44%).  Data comes from the Brown University Shaping Long Term Care In America Project.

While most people associate long-term care with nursing home stay, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance the majority of long-term care takes place at home or increasingly in assisted living communities.

The average age for nursing home residents upon admission for the five states was Arizona (78.24), Louisiana (77.84), California (77.76), Illinois (80.37), Ohio (78.81) and Maryland (79.23).

The post Five States With Most Under Age 65 Nursing Home Residents appeared first on American Association for Long Term Care Insurance.

“Long-term care insurance becomes an increasingly attractive planning option when people understand they can’t rely on government programs or their retirement savings should they need long-term care,” said Jesse Slome, Executive Director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  The Association compiled data to be published as part of its 2009 Sourcebook.

Ten States With Most Insureds
According to the Association data, the following states have the most residents with long-term care insurance.  “California has over 550,000 people with coverage followed by Florida (about 450,000) and New York (400,000),” Slome notes.  “Alaska, with over 670,000 residents has 5,000 people with coverage, the lowest in the nation.”  Hawaii has about twice the population but some 63,000 residents have long-term care insurance in place.

The top-10 states with residents owning long-term care insurance according to the Association’s 2009 LTCi Sourcebook are:

1. California  6.  Pennsylvania

2. Florida    7.  Ohio

3. New York    8.  Missouri

4. Texas      9.  New Jersey

5.  Illinois    10. North Carolina

Some States See Double Digit Growth
While sales have grown modestly, the Association reports that the number of insureds has grown significantly in certain states.  Data from the most recent state insurance filings reported in the Association’s 2009 Sourcebook note that the number of policyholders grew fastest in Arizona (+ 25.2%) followed by Florida (17.8%).

The states reporting the greatest increase in the number of residents owning long-term care insurance according to the Association’s 2009 LTCi Sourcebook are: (number in bracket represents percentage increase from the prior year’s State filings).

1. Arizona (25.2%)  6.  Missouri (14.4%)

2. Florida (17.8%)  7.  Oklahoma (14.4%)

3. N. Carolina (17.0%)  8.  Louisiana (13.7%)

4. Maine (15.6%)   9.  Massachusetts (13.3%)

5.  Kansas (14.4%)      10. S. Carolina (13.0%)

The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (www.aaltci.org) is the professional organization serving both insurance and financial professionals as well as educating consumers nationwide.   The Association publishes the annual Long-Term Care Insurance Industry Sourcebook a compendium of relevant industry data.

The post Number of Americans With Long-Term Care Insurance Protection Grows appeared first on American Association for Long Term Care Insurance.