Description: Many Americans will need long term care in future years, yet only 10 percent of those 50 and over have LTC insurance, and public programs are not funded to provide care for all who need it. The Long Term Care Section and the Forecasting and Futurism Section have co-sponsored a Delphi study, code named “Land This Plane,” with a lofty objective: to create a vision for how America ought to deal with the impending Long Term Care crisis. This article describes the results of the study that were available at the time this article was written.

Description: Discussion of the implications of the newly unveiled health care reform proposal by Senator Baucus. Key issues include abandonment of the CLASS Act, inclusion of LTC in cafeteria plans, funding and tax concerns, individual mandate, privacy concerns, play-or-pay employer mandate, impact on Medicare and Medicaid, and gridlock in the legislative finalization process.

Description: This paper explores how an intragenerational funding approach might spread the risks from those older persons who live longer to those who do not live so long and from those who are healthier or less dependent to those who are less healthy or more dependent.

Description: This session discussion is about long-term health care funding. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 15, No. 3B.

Description: Presented at the Living to 100 Symposium, January 2011. Long-term care LTC insurance is frequently not covered by national social insurance programs. When costs are expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product, the future burden of financing LTC would not lead to unbearable tax levels and is not particularly large in comparison to the projected costs for pensions and health care. After identifying the breadth of definitions of LTC needs, it is argued that LTC is an insurable risk. The paper concludes that LTC social insurance is affordable in developed countries.

Description: Protecting oneself in older age from risks is the sine qua non of retirement planning. But far too many people don’t approach retirement (or retirement planning) well. From a policy perspective, we know about half the senior population will have some sort of long-term care event. We need to recognize that long-term care risk is a component not just of aging but of retirement. Placing long term care solutions in the retirement space is critical to reaching the bulk of the population. Combined with the additional element—recognition of risk—this would be both a powerful protection but also a natural one for individuals to understand.

Description: Discusses Federal proposals to address LTC costs above-the-line deduction from taxes for premiums and creation of a LTCI program for Federal employees. From Long Term Care Newsletter, April 2000, Issue No. 2

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: Article on the history of the Long Term Care Discussion Group, a Washington DC-based venue for discussing long-term care and related issues for over 20 years.

Description: A consideration of the issues involved in adding long-term care provisions to the social security system in France, and how the conditions differ from those in the U.S.