Walker’s paper is attempting to “assess the affects of access to Medicaid nursing home benefits on private savings by coming up with a theoretical model and comparing model predictions with actual results in states with loose eligibility rules and states with tough rules.”
There has been a belief bandied about by long term care insurers and producers that “the availability of government-sponsored benefits is discouraging many consumers who have the ability to pay for their own long term care from doing so.”
Results from the study showed that retirement wealth is 33% lower for households in states where Medicaid nursing home benefits are easy to get. Walker writes, “The difference amounts to about $54,000 in retirement wealth” however “the difference is less than the average household’s expected nursing home care costs.”
» GAO Report: Bleak Health Insurance Future For Government Workers from TheInsurancePolicy
A recent report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) paints a depressing financial picture for local and state government “employees, reties and poor people” in respect to health insurance. According to a Nation... [Read More]
Tracked on: January 23, 2008 12:16 PM | Permalink to Trackback