News
  • Dartmouth Institute has released the results of an in-depth project that examines the health care for older Americans, the emphasis being on the patient’s perspective. The number of Americans age 65 and older is expected to nearly double over the next four decades from 43.1 million in 2012 to 83.7 million by 2050. In addition, the number of people age 85 and older is projected to nearly quadruple from 5.8 million to 19 million. We must evaluate the care older Americans are able to obtain today to ensure we fix mistakes for the future as the number of people needing care will just continue to substantially increase. Full project information can be read here.

 

  • New research published in the Feb. 15 JAMA Internal Medicine discusses the stressful, emotional and financial impact on unpaid caregivers. Click here to read the article.

 

  • Another important article we have come across talks about the future shortage of nursing homes, geriatric doctors, and nurses as the number of elderly continues to increase. Of the 76 million baby boomers heading towards retirement, it is estimated 70% of them will need some form of LTC services and almost 13 million will stay at least 3 years in a nursing home. There is then the unfortunate question of how many of these facilities will then chose the individuals who can afford to pay for their facilities and what will happen to those who can’t. You can read the full article here.

 

  • Earlier this month Genworth announced they will stop selling majority of their life insurance and annuities. They want to concentrate on LTCI, however, their financial ratings have been decreasing since the news was released.

     

  • Beyond Dollars, a study released by Genworth every few years, shows the side of long-term care that most people don’t think about... the impact LTC has on caregivers. Highlights of the most recent study show:

    62% of caregivers are between 25-54

    For many, caregiving has a negative impact on their mental or physical well-being:

    o  44% of caregivers experienced negative feelings such as depression

    o  35% said it had a negative impact on their relationship with family or a spouse

    o  Nearly 33% of caregivers reported an extremely high level of stress

    Caregivers often provide out of pocket financial assistance which they may not have planned on doing:

    o  62% pay for care with their own savings or retirement funds

    o  For 45%, their base quality of living is reduced

    o  38% have to reduce contributions to their savings & retirement

    Caregivers’ careers and livelihoods are impacted by providing care:

    o  Caregivers report spending about 20 hours a week providing care for their loved ones

    o  77% of caregivers indicated that they had missed work in order to provide care for a loved one

    o  Approximately 33% of caregivers provide 30 hours or more of care per week. Half of those individuals estimate that they lost one third of their income.

    o  52% of caregivers needed to work fewer hours

    o  35% had repeated work absences and 26% had missed career opportunities