It’s National Family Caregivers Month. Long-Term Care Insurance is proving to be a nightmare for policyholders and insurers. The youngest person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Elders with dementia living alone. Lucidity at the end of life.
National Family Caregivers Month (NFCM)
The Caregiver Action Network (CAN) raises awareness of the role caregivers play during National Family Caregivers Month with the “I care” campaign. Oftentimes, we don’t see ourselves as caregivers. CAN advises: Self-identifying as a caregiver is critical in various settings to ensure the care recipient and the caregiver receive appropriate support. CAN offers key areas where self-identification plays a vital role in addition to a series of caregiver videos, here.
A Financial Nightmare for those Who Bought Insurance for Security in Old Age
An eye-opening account of everything that went wrong for Long Term Care Insurers and those who paid their premiums “knowing” that necessary care covered by their plans would be paid for when needed. According to this article, consumers held onto their plans; especially, older policies with an annual 5% inflation protection for unlimited time. Insurers were betting that 5% would cancel annually (not the 1/2% who did). They also counted on higher returns from bonds where premiums were invested. What do fixed-income (retired) policyholders do now when insurers are asking government regulators to raise premiums by 100% of more? What happens when people with dementia need residential care such as assisted living?
The Sad Case of the Youngest Person Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
“In 2023, neurologists at a memory clinic in China diagnosed a 19-year-old with what they believed to be Alzheimer’s disease, making him the youngest person ever to be diagnosed with the condition in the world.” Ten percent of all diagnoses are of people younger than age 65. People younger than 30, according to this article, inherit a faulty gene. In the original research published in January 2023 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, “The case study… show[s] that Alzheimer’s doesn’t follow a single pathway, and is much more complex… emerging via numerous avenues with varying effects.”
Millions of Aging Americans are Facing Dementia by Themselves
While we read news of Japan’s elders dying alone (kodokushi), here in the United States we face millions with cognitive impairment and dementia who live alone. How is this possible? Sociologist Elena Portacolone, an associate professor at the University of California-San Francisco, digs deeper and shares experiences of people she’s been following. She found, “About half have trouble with daily activities such as bathing, eating, cooking, shopping, taking medications, and managing money, according to their research. But only 1 in 3 received help with at least one such activity.”
