Raleigh Observer on Long Term Care Issues

  The Raleigh News & Observer published a series of articles and opinion pieces about the issue of long-term care for the elderly.  Summaries appear below.

• “Who Can Afford To Be Old and Sick?“:A growing number of middle-income retirees with chronic illnesses ordisabilities are struggling to pay for long-term care services such asnursing homes, assisted living and in-home aides, the News & Observer reports.Those affected earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough toafford private long-term care insurance or to pay for such care out ofpocket (Goldsmith [1], Raleigh News & Observer, 8/27).
• “When Long-Term Care Insurance Makes Sense“:  According to the Administration on Aging,financial planners say long-term care insurance can be a good optionfor individuals with assets of $75,000 or more; retirement incomes of$25,000 to $35,000 per person or $35,000 to $50,000 per couple; and theability to pay premiums without difficulty, even if they increase overtime, the News & Observer reports. The “relativelynew type of insurance” varies in coverage from in-home care for betweenone and two months to nursing home care for indefinite periods,according to the News & Observer. The cost of suchplans range from less than $1,000 to as much as $9,000 per yeardepending on the services included and the age of the individualpurchasing the policy (Goldsmith [2], Raleigh News & Observer, 8/27).
• “Many Stopping Points Along a Continuum of Care“:In recent decades, there has been a “continual evolution of servicesand care settings that fill every imaginable niche between home and thenursing home,” Martha Grove Hipskind, an elder care consultant, writesin the News & Observer. Services such as seniorcenters, medication management, home-delivered meals, retirementcommunities, assisted living, respite care and hospice can be placed ona “continuum of care” to reflect the transition of an individual’saging needs, she says (Grove Hipskind, Raleigh News & Observer, 8/27).
• “Majority Caught in the Middle“:”We will need creative solutions that allow for a combination ofprivate pay and public subsidy for people who don’t fit the traditional’low-income’ criteria” to qualify for financial assistance in payingfor long-term care, Liz Scott, director of Adult Economic Services in Wake County Human Services, writes in a News & Observeropinion piece. Scott says that the “reliance on programs designed tohelp only those technically below the poverty level will not serve oursenior adults well in the years ahead” (Scott, Raleigh News & Observer, 8/27).