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ANCHOR LEAD IN:
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO YOUR FAMILY IF YOU SUDDENLY NEEDED ROUND THE CLOCK CARE?
MOST OF US THINK OF LONG-TERM HEALTHCARE INSURANCE AS SOMETHING TO PAY FOR
NURSING HOMES FOR THE ELDERLY. BUT ANY FAMILY CAN SUDDENLY NEED PROLONGED
MEDICAL HELP. IN TODAY'S HEADS UP, NEW LEGISLATION THAT MIGHT MAKE YOU TAKE
A SECOND LOOK AT LONG-TERM CARE.
TRACK ONE Length:
07
DIANA PLUCIENKOWSKI (PLU-chen-cow-skee) AND HER HUSBAND WERE AN ACTIVE, HEALTHY
COUPLE....UNTIL DOUBLE KNEE SURGERY SIDELINED VIC.
SOT:
KEY @: :09 (Short)Diana Plucienkowski, Financial planner and policy holder
"He was in a rehab unit for a while."
TRACK TWO Length:
:03
AFTER THE SURGERY, DIANA WENT RIGHT BACK TO WORK...
SOT:
KEY @: :13 Diana Plucienkowski, Financial planner and policy holder
"He still needed help with getting in the shower and moving around and
medications."
TRACK THREE Length:
:14
THANKFULLY, THEIR LONG-TERM CARE POLICY PAID FOR SOME HELP. WITHOUT IT, THEY
WOULD HAVE HAD TO PAY OUT OF POCKET. THAT'S SOMETHING MORE AND MORE PEOPLE
MAY HAVE TO DO, NOW THAT A NEW LAW MAKES IT HARDER FOR THOSE WITHOUT LONGTERM
CARE POLICIES TO TURN TO MEDICAID FOR HELP.
SOT:
KEY @: :34 Kristin Arnold, Bankrate.com
"Well, this is really uncharted territory."
TRACK FOUR Length: :14
THE LAW SAYS IF YOU HAVE 500-THOUSAND DOLLARS IN HOME EQUITY, YOU WON'T GET
MEDICAID AT ALL. IF YOU RECENTLY TRANSFERRED MORE THAN 55-THOUSAND DOLLARS
IN ASSETS TO A FAMILY MEMBER - SAY TO PAY FOR COLLEGE - NO MEDICAID FOR FIVE
YEARS.
SOT:
KEY @: :50 Kristin Arnold, Bankrate.com
"The Deficit Reduction Act /EDIT/which/EDIT promotes people to start
to plan ahead and start caring for themselves later in life and not depending
on the government."
TRACK FIVE Length:
:10
WHAT'S MORE, IF YOU DO USE MEDICAID TO PAY FOR LONG-TERM CARE - THE LAW SAYS
SOME OF YOUR ASSETS COULD GO TO THE GOVERNMENT AND NOT TO YOUR HEIRS! OF COURSE,
YOU COULD TRY TO PAY FOR IT YOURSELF...
SOT:
KEY @: 1:01 Kristin Arnold, Bankrate.com
"Typically a day in a nursing home costs an average between 150 to 200
dollars, that's basically the cost of a 4 or a 5 star hotel."
TRACK SIX Length:
:07
AS A FINANCIAL PLANNER, DIANA SAYS ANYONE WITH ASSETS SHOULD CONSIDER A LONGTERM
HEALTHCARE POLICY. SHE'S SURE GLAD SHE DID...
SOT:
KEY @: 1:26 Diana Plucienkowski, Financial planner and policy holder
"You hope you don't ever have to use it, but it protects draining down
your assets."
ANCHOR TAG:
DIANA PLUCIENKOWSKI (PLU-chen-cow-skee) SAYS SHE WRITES ALL SORTS OF POLICIES
FOR CLIENTS, AND THEY START AT ABOUT TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR. BUT, WITH
THE RATE OF MEDICAL INFLATION, IN TEN YEARS, A SINGLE YEAR IN A NURSING HOME
COULD COST 200-THOUSAND DOLLARS!
SOURCE INFORMATION:
Kristin Arnold, writer
Bankrate.com
561-630-2400, ext.11229
karnold@bankrate.com
Diana Plucienkowski
President, Financial Planning Services Division
Meg Greene & Associates
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND/SOURCE
INFORMATION
Medicaid Long-Term Services Reforms in the Deficit Reduction Act Prepared
by Jeffrey S. Crowley, Health Policy Institute, Georgetown University
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) was signed by the
President in February 2006.* Long-term services and supports, sometimes called
long-term care, provide assistance with everyday activities, such as assistance
with dressing, bathing, using the bathroom, preparing meals, taking medication,
managing a home, and managing money. The DRA makes several major changes to
long-term services policies in Medicaid. Key changes include:
Asset Transfers:
Requires states to lengthen the look-back period for asset transfers to establish
Medicaid's eligibility for nursing home coverage from 3 to 5 years and changes
the start of the penalty from the date of the transfer to the date of Medicaid
eligibility; requires annuities to be disclosed and states to be named a beneficiary
for cost of Medicaid assistance; requires state to use the income first rule;
and excludes coverage for individuals with home equity in excess of $500,000
(or up to $750,000 at state option), with an exception when a spouse or child
with a disability is residing in the home.
Long-Term Care Partnership Programs:
Lifts the moratorium on states expanding new partnership programs to increase
the role of private long-term care insurance in financing long-term services;
requires programs to adopt National Association of Insurance Commissioners
(NAIC) model regulations; and requires the Secretary to develop standards
for making policies portable across states.
Family Opportunity Act:
Creates a new option for states to extend Medicaid "buy-in" coverage
to children with disabilities with family income up to 300% of poverty; coverage
is phased in starting in 2007 for children up to age 6 and rising to age 19
by 2009; states are permitted to charge income-related premiums, and parents
must participate in employer-sponsored insurance if the employer covers at
least 50% of the premium.
*The President signed the bill, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (S. 1932),
on February 8, 2006, and it has since been designated Public Law 109-171.
Subsequently, it was learned that both the Senate and the House of Representatives
did not pass the bill in identical form. While the White House and Congressional
leadership have stated that they believe this is a minor technical issue and
that the bill is a law, others have asserted that, based on the Bicameralism
Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the Deficit Reduction Act was not lawfully
enacted. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that differences in
the bill affect $2 billion of federal spending. Resolution of this issue may
require the involvement of the federal courts. For purposes of this analysis,
the author has reviewed the signed bill as though it is a federal law.
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