Description: A defense of the CLASS Act from the perspective of the private long term care insurance industry.

Description: Rhode Island’s unique “global Medicaid waiver” pursues a potentially dangerous national policy trend: long-term care LTC rebalancing without strong eligibility controls. Resulting cost overruns could seriously damage the state’s social safety net. To maximize the global waiver’s opportunity, minimize its danger, and become a LTC financing model for the country, policy makers need to recognize the issues discussed in this report and pursue the recommended additional research and analysis.

Description: Three long-term care claimants lead very full lives, thanks to making the most of their employer-sponsored group long-term care insurance coverage, in terms of using it through intelligent and conservative benefit utilization.

Description: Remarks on the attitudes underlying the stalling of health care reform legislation.

Description: Family members who care for people with dementia need a wide range of support services to help them do the important work of care giving at home.

Description: A study of disability experience examines cost burden and degree of disability, and how these measures vary across different subpopulations. This article summarizes a presentation given at the Society of Actuaries’ Living to 100: Survival to Advanced Ages International Symposium held on Jan. 7–9, 2008 in Orlando, Florida. An abstract of the author's paper was presented in the September 2008 issue of Long-Term Care News.

Description: A comment letter to policymakers produced jointly by the SOA and AAA presents findings from their actuarial analysis of the proposed CLASS Act. The analysis indicates that the proposed structure and funding approaches will be unsustainable, and will cover only a very small proportion of the intended population. The opt-out and guaranteed issue provisions of the plan pose a risk that soon the program will either need increased premiums and/or significant reductions.

Description: A summary of concerns about the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, including flaws in the underlying premises, opportunism, inadequate sales incentives, insufficient benefits, adverse selection, and cashflow and solvency issues.

Description: Consideration of the LTC Actuarial Standard of Practice

Description: This article provides some state officials' responses to a request for information from legislators related to the study and reform of Medicaid long-term care (LTC) eligibility and estate recovery rules. In those replies, there is strong evidence that Medicaid eligibility and estate recovery rules are subject to frequent and egregious abuses.