Aging Servies THE FACTS

FOR INFORMATION AND REVIEW KEEPING OUR SENIORS SAFE IN A NEIGHBORHOOK ENVIRONMENT

Aging Services: The Facts
General Facts
Misconceptions
Workforce
Caregiving
Not-for-Profit Aging Services
Long-term Care Insurance
Global Aging


General Facts

Need
By 2026, the population of Americans ages 65 and older will double to 71.5 million.
Between 2007 and 2015, the number of Americans ages 85 and older is expected to increase by 40 percent.
Among people turning 65 today, 69 percent will need some form of long-term care, whether in the community or in a residential care facility.
By 2020, 12 million older Americans will need long-term health care. (HIAA, "A Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance", 2002)
Availability
There are 16,100 certified nursing homes in the United States.
There are 39,500 assisted living facilities in the United States.
There are 1,900 continuing care retirement communities in the United States.
There are more than 300,000 units of Section 202 affordable senior housing available in the United States.
For each Section 202 affordable senior housing unit that is available, there are ten eligible seniors on waiting lists for it. The average time an eligible senior is on the waiting list is 13.4 months.
Cost
The average daily cost for a private room in a nursing home is $213, or $77,745 annually.
The average daily cost for a semi-private room in a nursing home is $189, or $68,985 annually.
The average monthly cost of living in an assisted living facility is $2,969, or $35,628 annually.
The average monthly cost of living in a not-for-profit Continuing Care Retirement Community is $2,672, or $32,064 annually.
The average monthly rate for assisted living facilities that charge additional fees for Alzheimer’s and dementia care is $4,270, or $51,240 annually.
To move into a community, individuals must also pay an entry fee ranging from $60,000 to $120,000.
The average hourly rate for a certified home health aide is $32.37.
The average hourly rate for a uncertified home health aide is $19.00.
The national average daily rate for adult day centers is $61. (2007 MetLife Market Survey of Adult Day Services & Home Care Costs)
The national average hourly rate for homemakers/companions is $18. (2007 MetLife Market Survey of Adult Day Services & Home Care Costs)
Who Pays
Nearly 40 percent of long-term care spending is paid for by private funds.
Medicare, which covers rehabilitation services after an individual is discharged from a hospital, pays for 19 percent of all long-term care spending.
Medicaid, which covers health care costs for low-income individuals, pays for 49 percent of all long-term care spending.
Accounting for about 40 percent of total expenditures on nursing facilities, Medicaid's payments cover the care of more than half of all nursing home residents.
Use
There are more than 1.4 million nursing home residents in the United States.
An individual's average age when he or she moves into a nursing home is 79.
Women are almost three times as likely to live in nursing homes than men.
More than 900,000 individuals live in assisted living residences.
More than 150,000 individuals receive care and services at an adult day center.
There are more than 1.1 million seniors in some type of senior housing community in the United States.
There are approximately 745,000 older adults who live in continuing care retirement communities in the United States.
The average age of an individual moving into a continuing care retirement community is 78.
Nearly 1.4 million individuals receive home health services.
The average lifetime nursing home use per individual is one year, and the average home care use is a little over 200 visits.
Back to Top

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Misconceptions

Cost:
Only 8 percent of Americans over 45 can estimate the average monthly cost of a nursing homes within 20 percent of its actual cost.
Less than a quarter (23%) of Americans over 45 can estimate the monthly cost of an assisted living facility within 20 percent of its actual cost.
One in five (20%) Americans over 45 say they don't know the cost of an in-home visit from an aide.
Nearly 20 percent of Americans over 45 said that their estimates of long-term costs were "just a hunch."
Cost Coverage:
Close to one fifth of Americans over 45 (18%) responded that they "don't know" what funds will cover their long-term care costs.
More than 55 percent (59%) of Americans over 45 incorrectly believe that Medicare will pay for extended nursing home stay.
Fifty-two percent of Americans over 45 incorrectly believe Medicare covers assisted living costs.
Back to Top

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Workforce

Size:
Approximately 21% of all individuals working in health services are employed by nursing and residential care facilities.
There are approximately 1.39 million nursing assistants, orderlies and attendants, working in the United States today.
There are approximately 663,000 home health aides working in the United States today.
There are approximately 566,000 personal care and home care aides working in the United States today. Two-thirds of them work for home-based service providers.
There are approximately 16,000 licensed nursing home administrators working in the United States today.
Demographics:
On average, registered nurses working in long-term care are older than those in other health care settings. More than a third (36%) are over 50 and one in ten are over 60.
Women make up approximately 90 percent of the direct care workforce.
About half of direct care workers are racial or ethnic minorities. A third are African-American while 15 percent are Hispanic or other persons of color.
With a mean age of 46, home care workers are older than direct care workers in nursing homes, where the median worker age is 36. Additionally, the percentage of home care workers over 65 is three times that of direct care workers in nursing homes.
Twenty percent of certified nursing assistants and home health aides have not graduated from high school. More than 30 percent, however, have attended some college.
Approximately 50 percent of direct care workers are employed full-time, while only about a third of home care workers are full-time employees.
Need:
Overall, nearly 96,000 full-time equivalent nurses and other health care professionals are now needed to fill vacant positions in America's nursing homes.
In 2002, 15 percent registered nurses (RNs), 13 percent of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and 8.5 percent of certified nurse aide (CNA) positions in America's nursing homes were vacant.
By 2010, the number of vacant positions in nursing homes is expected reach 810,000.
The average annual turnover rate for licensed nursing home administrators is 43 percent.
The average national turnover rate for nurses working in aging services is 49 percent.
The average national turnover rate for certified nursing assistants (CNAs) is 71 percent.
The total cost of CNA turnover is more than $4 billion each year.
Back to Top

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caregiving
An estimated 34 million Americans provide some care for a family member, age 50 or older. And as the baby boomers begin to retire, that number is going to climb even higher.
Ninety percent of individuals receive care at home get help from family and friends, and 80% rely solely on these individuals for assistance.
Informal caregivers are general between 45 and 64, and two-thirds are women.
A study from the National Association of Caregivers says the costs of home care average more than $5,500 a year — $400 more than the average household spends on health care and entertainment combined.
When the aging relative lives in another city, the costs run even higher. On average, long-distance caregivers spend nearly $9,000 a year.
Back to Top

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not-for-Profit Aging Services
Not-for-profit organizations manage 31% of all nursing homes in the United States.
Not-for-profit organizations manage approximately 80% of all continuing care retirement communities in the United States.
Not-for-profit organizations manage 78% of all adult day centers in the United States.
Not-for-profit organizations manage 45% of home health agencies in the United States.
There are 1,520 not-for-profit retirement communities in the United States.
Back to Top

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Long-term Care Insurance
The average annual long-term care premium for individuals under 65 is $1,337.
The average premium for individuals over 65 is $2,862.
The average long-term care insurance policy purchased by a 65-year-old and held until death pays out 82 cents for every dollar.
Since 1987, fewer than 10 million Americans have bought long-term care insurance, and only about 7 million of those policies remain in force today.
Almost 30 percent of Americans over 45 have purchased a long-term care insurance policy.
Back to Top

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Global Aging
Each month, the world's elderly population of people increases by 795,000.
China's population includes 88 million elderly individuals, making it the world's "oldest" country.
The elderly population in Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan and Spain outnumbers that of children.
Last Updated : 4/16/2008 9:55:43 AM

American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging
http://www.aahsa.org/aging_services/default.asp#5

AFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE

Healthcare Policy: providing access to health insurance and making it affordable, passing SCHIP expansion to cover working class families earning 300% of the federal poverty level or approximately $60K/Yr. for a family of 4, creating a healthcare purchasing exchange similar to what members of Congress enjoy, a Medicare Buy-in option, mandatory COBRA to age 65, increasing access to medical facilities and allowing National Guardsmen and Reservists to be eligible for TRICARE.

A plan also calls for lowering the cost of prescription drugs and, because of our proximity to Canada, allowing prescription drug reimportation if the prescriptions are safe and more affordable. Powers also calls for breaking up monopolies and increasing competition, citing the 400 healthcare mergers in the past decade.

Additionally, Powers' plan calls for electronic medical records to save money (and potentially avert health problems in emergencies), aid for small businesses for catastrophic care, phasing out of excessive Medicare overpayments to HMOs, and ensuring premiums are spent on patients.

After listening to seniors' concerns about the high costs of prescriptions , health insurance companies assessing risk pools like those for auto insurance. answer simple "Take away the incentive for it."

WHEN DOCTORS DO THEIR JOB ELDERLY FALL LESS

Yuk. A study in today’s NY Times reports that percentage of elderly people who fall drops by 11% if the doctor actually asks them if they are prone to falls — then takes their blood pressure lying down and standing, treats it properly, and then reduces their other medication. How ironic that the doctor who did the study notes she can’t estimate the cost of this ‘prevention’ program because it ought to be part of standard care. Exactly.

So — in the absence of standard care, falls among the elderly account for 10% of emergency room visits and 6% of hospitalizations for those 65 and older.

Thus is born the market for fall detection offerings — like Intel’s research and future product offering.

Where there’s a lack of will, there’s a way.

Entry Filed under:

MALDEN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE CALENDAR

Malden -











The Malden Chamber of Commerce has set up a Community Calendar on its Web site, maldenchamber.org. A letter to all Clubs, organizations and schools has been sent to offer this Google-based calendar service, free of charge.

The calendar can be viewed by anyone in the community, 24 hours a day to see what’s going on in Malden. It will help organizers plan their fundraisers so the event doesn’t conflict with others already planned for the same date.

To notify the Chamber of an upcoming event to be posted on the calendar, e-mail the date, organization hosting, time, location, cost, and contact person with phone and email to maurene@maldenchamber.org. Or, fax it to 781-322-4866, or mail it to Malden Chamber of Commerce, Malden Government Center, 200 Pleasant Street, Suite 416, Malden, Mass., 02148.

For more information, call the Chamber office at 781-322-4500.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Fannie was created during the depths of the Great Depression, and Freddie in 1970, to help make mortgages more affordable for homeowners. The companies buy billions of dollars in mortgages each month from commercial lenders. Some are sold to investors as mortgage-backed securities; others are held by the companies in their own investment portfolios.

The plan represents a cease-fire in a decades-long ideological battle over the proper role of the companies. Free-market conservatives see the companies as extensions of “big government,” while Democrats have protected them as the main vehicle to promote affordable housing for middle- and lower-income people.