State Launches Campaign For Long-Term Care Planning

HARTFORD — Nursing home care in Connecticut costs an average of $207 per day, or $76,000 a year. Forty-three percent of people who reach age 65 will spend some time in a nursing home. More than half of them will stay for at least a year. Many more will need long-term care at home. Medicare and private health insurance don’t pay for long-term care.

These are the grim facts that the State of Connecticut’s Partnership for Long-Term Care is using in a just-launched communications campaign to educate state residents and businesses about the need to include long-term care financing in their retirement planning and benefit plans.

The outreach effort includes radio commercials that are running on several stations until mid-April, print advertising placed in professional journals reaching insurance agents, financial planners, accountants and attorneys, and a direct-mail informational campaign aimed at small to mid-sized businesses.

The purpose of the campaign is to encourage Connecticut employers to offer long-term care insurance as an employee benefit and to educate employees about the benefits of purchasing long-term care insurance while they are still working. The campaign also strives to inform Connecticut residents in general about the importance of planning for long-term care.

“With an aging Baby Boom population, the need for quality long-term care insurance is greater than ever,” said David Guttchen, the Partnership’s director. “We hope this campaign will help Connecticut residents realize the importance of protecting themselves financially for their future well-being.” The campaign is being supported with the help of a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a health-care philanthropy located in Princeton, N.J.

Created by Mintz & Hoke of Avon, Connecticut, two 60 second radio spots will air in Hartford and New Haven Counties through April 9, prompting listeners to either ask their employer or call the Partnership for information on long-term care.

“Some people think that Medicare and other health insurance plans will pay for long-term care, but they don’t,” added Mr Guttchen. “They are only designed to cover short-term medical needs. And, in order to qualify for Medicaid, which does cover long-term care, Connecticut residents must have no more than $1,600 in personal assets.”

The Connecticut Partnership for Long-Term Care is an alliance between the State of Connecticut and private insurers that seeks to: provide Connecticut residents a way to pay for their long-term needs without the risk of impoverishment; enhance the standards of private long-term care insurance; provide public education about long-term care; and conserve state Medicaid funds.

There are currently eight insurance companies participating in the program: Bankers Life and Casualty, CAN, GE Capital Assurance, John Hancock, MedAmerica, PFL Life, The Travelers, and UNUM Life.

For more information about the Partnership, call 800/547-3443.