Smart Money – “Parental Guidance”, Nkiru Asika Oluwasanmi, December, 2002, p. 112

In spite of the fact that I spent 2.5 hours with the author and a research associate and I was only mentioned once and misquoted on my views of inflation coverage, this is still a great article overall. It makes the usual mistake of saying that people with over $2 million in assets don’t need LTCI, but focusing mostly on older people, but the article is about helping parents so I can almost overlook that. On the positive side, the article does a great job of pointing out why it’s so necessary to talk to parents about planning for long-term care.

AND, in a rare journalistic endeavor, the article actually reverses the opinion held by this magazine a few years ago that warned people away from LTCI. Here’s the quote: “Just a few years ago, we argued that most people were better off skipping long-term care insurance. At the time, we recommended that your folks self-pay for long-term care; the stock market was roaring, while long-term care insurance was costly and dubious in value. Well, today if you have the savings, by all means forgo the insurance. But if you don’t then consider it. Coverage has improved notably in the past three years.” It then goes on to discuss some implications from the NAIC LTCI Model Act of 2000 that I gave them.

The research associate misunderstood my statement about people with less than $100,000 easily qualifying for Medicaid – I meant married people and the article is written that anyone with less than $100,000 will quickly qualify.

The article does a good job with pointing out the downfalls of Medicaid, even though there’s a portrayal that you can get into a top facility with only six months of private-pay savings then go on Medicaid.

The reverse mortgage information is particularly good and most authors on this subject overlook that completely as a means of helping those who are “house-rich, cash-poor”.
Well worth the read. www.smartmoney.com