Cost of long-term-care insurance going up, but it's still a wise investment, depending on your income

Judy Witte says her long-term-care insurance premiums
are going up at a worrying rate. C-J photo by Matt Stone.

Seniors are facing increases in their premiums for long-term-care insurance as insurance companies scramble to deal with increasing longevity of seniors and low interest rates that are "crimping investment returns," Chris Otts reports for The Courier-Journal.

Louisville retiree Judy Witte, 72, said she received a letter from her insurance company recently saying her premiums will go up by 77 percent, from $986 to $1,746 per year.

Her situation is part of a larger trend in which the cost of an average policy has increased by 6 to 17 percent from 2011 to 2012. Long-term-care insurance helps pay for the cost of assisted living, nursing homes, hospice care and home care.

In the Louisville area, assisted living costs about $45,000 per year and nursing homes cost about $72,000 per year and more.

People should buy long-term-care insurance if they can't afford the care they might need without dipping into their savings, Otts reports. "For example, someone who receives $100,000 a year in retirement income but spends only $30,000 might be able to afford an assisted-living center or nursing home," Otts notes. But if that same person spends $80,000 a year, then it would be a wise investment to buy long-term-care insurance because they would not be able to afford the assisted living or nursing home costs.

The right time to buy long-term-care insurance is between age 50 and 60. If Witte had waited to buy hers today, it would have cost her more than $26,000 a year, Otts reports. "To me, it's a precious possession," she said. "It helps me sleep at night to know I have this." (Read more)

Nursing-home violations went up in third quarter, but a record 8 facilities had no deficiencies

In the third quarter of 2011, inspectors found 403 deficiencies in 56 Kentucky nursing homes, an average of 7.2, up from 5.9 in the second quarter. But no deficiencies were found in eight facilities, the first time that has happened in so many.

"I guess you could call that progress," Bernie Vonderheide of Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform told The Courier-Journal's Deborah Yetter. The non-profit organization advocates for nursing home residents and obtains this data regularly through open-records requests to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and distributes it statewide. The information is posted as part of Medicare's nursing-home comparison data.

Inspections assess a facility on the care of residents and how that care is administered; on how staff and residents interact; and on its environment. Certified nursing homes must meet more than 180 regulatory standards. The state Office of Inspector General website has more data, such as the results of inspections and the ownership of each facility.

Nursing homes with 10 or more deficiencies in the third quarter were: Christopher East Health Care Center, Louisville, 20; Glasgow Health & Rehabilitation Center, Glasgow (18); Springhurst Health and Rehab, Louisville (17); Woodland Terrace Health Care, Elizabethtown (16); Parkview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Pikeville (16); Windsor Care Center, Mount Sterling (14); Bluegrass Care & Rehabilitation Center, Lexington (14); The Good Samaritan Society, Jeffersontown (12); Green Valley Health & Rehabilitation Center, Carrolton (12); Carmel Manor, Fort Thomas (12); Breckinridge Memorial Nursing Facility, Hardinsburg (11); Glenview Health Care Facility, Glasgow (11), Professional Care Health & Rehabilitation Center, Hartford (11); Salyersville Health Care Center (10); Stanton Nursing Center, Stanton (10); Colonial Health and Rehabilitation Center, Bardstown (10); Owsley County Health Care Center, Booneville (10); and Edgemont Healthcare, Cynthiana (10).

Nursing homes with no deficiencies were: Lourdes Transitional Care (Paducah); Westport Place Health Campus (Louisville); Carter Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (Grayson); Regional Medical Center of Hopkins County (Madisonville); Belle Meade Home (Greenville); Robertson County Health Care Facility (Mount Olivet); Windsor Gardens (Bardstown); and the Loretto Motherhouse Infirmary (Nerinx).

For the first time, inspection results were also released for assisted-living facilities. Inspectors found 19 deficiencies at Charleston Assisted Living in Danville, by far the highest number among the 10 facilities inspected. Other inspection results at assisted living facilities were: The Harrod Assisted Living, Harrodsburg (12); Highland Ridge Assisted Living, Glasgow (7); Atria Highland Crossing, Fort Wright (6); Bluegrass Assisted Living, Elizabethtown (4); Bowling Green Retirement Village, Bowling Green (4); Trinity Station Retirement Community, Flatwoods (4); The Neighborhood of Somerset, Somerset (2); Twin Oaks Assisted Living, New Castle (2); and The Village of Lebanon, Lebanon (2). There are 100 assisted-living facilities in Kentucky. (Read more)

Federal grant will help build assisted-living and hospice facility in Maysville

Gov. Steve Beshear presented a $800,000 community development block grant (federal money administered by the states) for the construction of a Maysville assisted-living facility and hospice inpatient facility Friday, The Ledger Independent reports.

The Hospice of Hope projects will include 32 apartment-style units in the assisted-living facility, and eight units for hospice care. The $7- to $8-million project is slated for construction this spring.

At the check presentation, Beshear said Kentuckians are finding ways to improve health care-related services, despite tough economic times. Beshear spoke of his administration's efforts to increase enrollment in KCHIP, a free or low cost health insurance program for children, and the efforts to secure $62 million for the Kentucky Prescription Assistance Program. (Read more)