Can the popular Sudoku puzzle craze sweeping the nation help Baby Boomers figure out how to pay for their long term care? Yes, says Ed Neveleff, long term care insurance expert, with Senior Insurance Services of Gaithersburg, Maryland. "I've become addicted to Sudoku," says Neveleff. "I do the puzzle in the newspaper every day with my morning coffee. It's a great brain exercise."
So how exactly does the puzzle relate to long term care? Sudoku is about finding solutions. There are nine squares and nine boxes within each square. The puzzle must be completed so that every row, column and square contains the numbers 1 through 9. However, there is only one solution for each box in the puzzle. Some solutions are obvious, but others can be reached only when all of the other possibilities have been eliminated.
"Imagine," offers Neveleff, "that each box relates to a different financial risk that Boomers may encounter during the course of their lives. Through retirement planning and various insurance policies -- auto, homeowners, liability, life, health and disability -- they have solved all of the boxes except one: the long term care box."
Financing long term care has traditionally been accomplished in three ways: (1) self-insuring; (2) reliance on Medicaid; and (3) purchasing long term care insurance. Self-insurance can be extremely risky and is increasingly expensive. With at least a 40% chance of needing long term care at some point in life and the current average annual cost of nursing home care exceeding $70,000, a prolonged period of care could have serious financial consequences.
Medicaid, with its many loopholes enabling people to transfer assets and still qualify, has previously been a viable solution for many people. However, on February 8, 2006 President Bush signed into law the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, stating that "the bill tightens the loopholes that allowed people to game the system by transferring assets to their children so they can qualify for Medicaid benefits."
Among other things, the new law extends the Medicaid "lookback" period on transfers from 3 to 5 years and starts the penalty period caused by such transfers on the date of Medicaid eligibility rather than the date of the transfer. This effectively precludes the so-called "half-a-loaf" strategy previously employed by Medicaid planners, which enabled them to shield the transferred assets by simply waiting a period of time before applying for Medicaid.
The new law also authorizes the expansion of the long term care insurance Partnership program, which allows individual states to authorize special long term care insurance policies enabling people to legally shield a certain amount of their assets from Medicaid spenddown.
"The federal government has spoken loudly and clearly," says Neveleff, "and the message is that Medicaid is to be used exclusively by the truly needy and that the middle and wealthy classes may not look to the government to pay for their long term care."
"Consequently," adds Neveleff, "since self- insurance does not fit unless you are extremely wealthy and since Medicaid planning is no longer an option, by taking the Sudoku approach and solving problems through the process of elimination, the only solution to the long term care puzzle for most middle and upper class Baby Boomers is long term care insurance." Neveleff enthusiastically endorses both Sudoku and long term care insurance as enhancements to well-being, with one sharpening mental acuity and the other solidifying financial security.
SOURCE Senior Insurance Services
Web Site: http://www.usltc.com
All of the above text is a press release provided by the quoted organization. TheMatureMarket.com accepts no responsibility for their accuracy.
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