Consumer Choice/Financing Senior Living

The largest U.S. life insurer MetLife announced on Nov. 11 that will stop selling long term care insurance starting in 2011 citing “financial challenges.”

The president-appointed National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has outlined an initial $3.8 trillion budget deficit plan that includes cuts in Social Security and Medicare benefits, including increasing the retirement age.

Ensure your residents take advantage of the annual Medicare Open Enrollment for 2011 prescription drug and health plans that begins Nov. 15 and runs through Dec. 31.

Medicare recipients will save $3,500 under the Affordable Care Act over the next 10 years. Savings could be as much as $12,300 for seniors and others with high prescription drug costs or costly medical conditions.

Although assisted living consistently ranks as a top priority among AARP members, new research shows most female baby boomers don’t know how they’ll pay for long-term care costs. And worse, two in five associate long-term care only with nursing homes.

Premiums could rise as much as 40 percent, if some insurers get their way. Policyholders are living longer and holding on to LTC policies instead of letting them lapse.

Nursing home facilities nationwide are changing the way they do business –focusing on how in-demand assisted living communities operate – as they aim to adapt to a changing environment that no longer wants their product, reports The Associated Press. But

Veterans are increasingly using their benefits to pay for assisted living. But the number of beneficiaries could be higher, experts say. There are nearly 13 million wartime veterans in the United States who could qualify for nearly $2,000 monthly toward a