The demand for home health care services is rapidly growing in the U.S. This has been driven by an array of factors in recent years. First, the baby boomers are reaching the age where they are more likely to need assistance. Second, the pandemic has made some people uneasy about the prospect of living in [...]
Research has found that somewhere between 50 and 70 percent of people over the age of 65 will require care services at some point, meaning they’ll need assistance with at least a couple of activities of daily living and possibly even a higher level of care. Approximately 20 percent of people receiving such long-term care [...]
Our nation has experienced an agonizing nine months as millions of people have been infected with COVID-19 and hundreds of thousands have died. So, it was an emotional moment this past week as we watched the first Americans receive the highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccine. As I wrote recently, it is also welcome news that healthcare [...]
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)’s Administration on Aging (AOA), around 70 percent of people over the age of 65 will require long-term care services at some point in their life. This means they will need assistance with at least two activities of daily living (ADLs) such as eating, dressing, or [...]
Finally: Some good news on the COVID-19 front! The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which shows a 95 percent efficacy rate, as well as the Moderna vaccine with its 94 percent efficacy, are both being fast-tracked by the FDA for emergency use. There is optimism that they will receive approval in the U.S. any day now, and initial [...]
In my conversations with people who are exploring their senior living options, I've had many people ask about which states have the best long-term care. The Long-Term Services & Supports State Scorecard for 2020 puts some objective numbers to this common query. The scorecard was produced by the AARP Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, and The [...]
When someone is seriously ill, either with a chronic disease or an acute health condition, their loved ones are often tasked with making a series of difficult choices. Among these may be decisions about long-term care, which many times, they are unprepared to make either emotionally or because they lack good information. In such uncharted [...]
Last year, 350,000 Americans bought a long-term care insurance (LTCi) policy, and over 7 million people currently maintain a policy. This is a fairly low adoption rate given that there are over 80 million Americans who are age 55+. Recent data from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) reveals some interesting facts about [...]
Immigration has been a hot topic in the United States lately. Regardless of your opinions on this issue, there’s little dispute that our nation needs some type of immigration reform policy. But what people may not realize is how closely tied another looming nationwide challenge is to the immigration debate. That issue is our country’s [...]
Long-term care is generally defined as a range of supportive services needed to meet an individual’s personal care needs over an extended period of time. Often, long-term care is not medical care; instead, it is help with everyday personal tasks, sometimes referred to as activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), although [...]
