Health Care Reform - A Much Needed Post

Briefly let me explain what it is I do and why I'm blogging today about Health Care Reform (which, actually, for those who don't know, it is called The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and was signed into law back in March 2010). I work at an insurance brokerage. I know I just lost some of you because I simply said the word insurance and nobody wants to talk about insurance (including my husband), but bear with me. Our brokerage focuses most specifically on disability insurance, long-term care insurance and employer sponsored ancillary benefits (lamen's terms: disability and life insurance products for EMPLOYERS to offer their EMPLOYEES). I personally work in the sales and marketing division and focus on employer sponsored products AND I also am now heading up our business development to try and grow our business as much as possible. Our company is the "middle man" between the insurance agent/financial planner/certified public accountant (CPA) and the client (you). We help agents find the very best solution for their client's needs and help them sell insurance coverage. That in a nutshell is what our company/I do.

Although my company doesn't have much to do with the health insurance industry, our agents do and we have to stay informed. I try to attend a seminar about changes to The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) every 2-3 months. I come home and tell my family about what I hear in these seminars and it is A M A Z I N G to me that most of the time they have NO CLUE about what's happening and my own mother even thought that Health Care Reform wasn't made into law yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Newsflash: It's been implemented for almost 2 YEARS now.

In mid-October, the government decided to drop a critical portion of the ACA called the CLASS (Community Living Assistance and Services) Act. What the heck is this? Put simply, the CLASS Act was a long-term care program that the government was plannig to set up that Americans could pay into to receive a daily benefit should they ever need long-term care services (nursing home, in-home care, etc.). This portion of the ACA was the government's attempt to address the care of our aging population and to encourage Americans to plan ahead for their future financial needs as they get older. Although the benefits were minimal ($100 per day or less, the national average cost of care per day is somewhere around $200) it was still a starting point. Not surprising to those of us in the industry, the program was deemed unsustainable by actuaries (Actuaries are individuals that study a financial product to determine its purpose and pricing model).

Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services Secretary, sent a letter to congressional leaders indicating that she saw no way to implement this program. She states: "Despite our best analytical efforts, I do not see a viable path forward for CLASS implementation at this time. The challenge that CLASS was created to address is not going away. By 2020, we know that an estimated 15 MILLION AMERICANS will need some kind of long-term care." In other words, the government can't afford a ton of long-term care claims.

FACT: 70% of Americans will need long-term care after the age of 65. With limited coverage available with public programs, there is a good chance cost of care will come from our personal income and savings. The average cost of long-term care services in the United States in 2010 were:

• $205 per day or $6,235 per month for a semi-private room in a nursing home.
• $229 per day or $6,965 per month for a private room in a nursing home.
• $3,293 per month for care in an assisted living facility (for a one-bedroom unit).
• $21 per hour for a home health aide.
• $19 per hour for homemaker services.
• $67 per day for services in an adult day health care center.

This isn't an attempt to try and sell you anything - that's not my job anyway. I just want to encourage anyone reading this to stay informed and have conversations with people about planning ahead to help themselves and their families in the future. My mother has always told me, "You can't depend on others, but you can always depend on yourself."

Encourage those around you to stay informed. Read. Watch the news. Attend a seminar. Or simply visit this website: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/index.html (Note: It is government sponsored, so it will be all "happy and fluffy" regarding health care reform).

I mean, what if something happened to your mom or dad tomorrow? Could you afford to quit your job or relocate to take care of them? What if something happened to YOU tomorrow and you couldn't work anymore? How would you pay for your mortgage? How would you pay for childcare, or simply put food on the table?

Nobody wants to think about these things, but they're questions that need answers. We're all living for longer with illnesses that may not have cures, but do have treatments.

Hopefully I've given you something to think about...