Long-term Care Insurance & Planning

Yesterday morning I was running on the treadmill in my health club, and saw this Today Show report about criminals who are now residents in nursing homes and commit crimes upon their fellow residents. 

Like many of the issues around long-term care, this topic elicits many emotions.  And, like other issues, it isn’t easily solved.  There are three points that I want to make here. 

ONE: vulnerable populations (of any age) are easy prey to criminals, whether they live in their own home or in a facility. 

TWO: as horrific as it is (and unmentionable), physicial and emotional abuse of elders is often inflicted by close family members (wouldn’t it be interesting to know if an elder is best protected against criminal activity when living with family vs. on their own vs. in a facility?) 

THREE: Medicaid reimbursement of long-term care facilities is on the ropes financially, and it is the primary payment source for most residents.  Will the proposed fixes to the nursing home predator problem be funded by higher taxes or cuts in other nursing home expenditures (PBJ instead of roasted chicken for dinner?).

Wes Beldsoe, described as an eldercare advocate, and interviewed in the Today Show piece, has tracked more than 1,600 registered sex offenders who live in eldercare facilities.  As he says, “When you put predators in with the prey, someone’s going to be bit.” 

That’s true whether the predator lives in the house down the street, or in the next nursing home room.  There’s no easy fixes here.  Your ideas?

View the video at the Today show site, by clicking this link.