International Falls Journal - Session seeing results - Comments

That's right! Plan early.

SchaferLTC — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:56:29 -0500

That's right! Plan early. Save. Invest. Insure.

Richard A. Schafer CLTC
Minneapolis, MN

That's right! Plan early.

SchaferLTC — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:56:27 -0500

That's right! Plan early. Save. Invest. Insure.

Richard A. Schafer CLTC
Minneapolis, MN

At $190.00 for double and

night_owl — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:24:50 -0500

At $190.00 for double and $210.00 single depending on care cost per day on average, start saving your pennies.

"We absolutely cannot do

SchaferLTC — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:03:19 -0500

"We absolutely cannot do this to our schools and nursing homes again."

"Why don't people worry about Long-term Care until they're in crisis?"

The answer to that question is simple: "Medicaid and Medicare have paid for most expensive LTC in the U.S.A. since 1965 so the vast majority of people don't think about LTC until they need it."

The country is slipping toward recession. State and federal budgets are stressed. Medicaid, especially its LTC component, threatens to sink the foundering fiscal ship.

More public spending on long-term care is less likely than ever. Cutbacks in Medicaid eligibility and benefits are far more likely. Medicaid estate recovery efforts will increase. Access to and quality of Medicaid-financed LTC, whether in nursing homes or home and community-based settings, will surely decline.

More citizens who failed to plan for LTC will be caught in the Medicaid trap. Their adult children and heirs, previously indemnified against LTC costs by easy Medicaid eligibility rules and opportunistic Medicaid planners, will lose inheritances.

Someday, folks will recognize their LTC will someday have to be paid for out of pocket. So, at long last they'll turn to private financial planning tools like insurance and reverse mortgages. Those markets will thrive, and in time, thanks to market competition and extra private financing, LTC service delivery will improve.

Thus will come the calm after the storm.

Richard A. Schafer CLTC
Minneapolis, MN

Session seeing results

Journal Staff — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:18:04 -0500

By Rep. Tom Anzelc, Minnesota District 3A

It’s Thursday morning, I’m preparing for a long session on the House floor, and it seems like a good time to summarize the 2008 legislative session for the people of the Borderland.
Session began in February, and we have already seen significant accomplishments for northern Minnesota. I look forward to coming home when we adjourn no later than May 19, but before then, we still have important work to do.