November 5, 2007

LANSING- Governor Jennifer M. Granholm has proclaimed November 4-10, 2007 as Long Term Care Awareness Week. Nearly one year after announcing the state's participation in the Own Your Future campaign, Granholm is again encouraging citizens to take the steps necessary to plan for the future long term care needs of themselves and their loved ones.

In the proclamation, Granholm cited national statistics that project the population of Michigan residents age 65 and older to be more than 2 million by the year 2030. Approximately 1 in 3 people over the age of 65 will spend three months or more in a nursing home. The probability of needing nursing home care increases with age, and the risk is greater for women than men.

Granholm's proclamation also encourages state residents to start planning now for individual and family long term care needs which may be required in the future.

"Due to sharp increases in both the demand and costs for long term care services, it has become contingent on Michigan citizens to recognize this critical situation and begin to take the appropriate steps if they want to improve the odds that their latter years will truly be golden," she said in the proclamation.

In 2006, the average annual cost of care in Michigan for nursing home services was $70,445, more than $32,500 for assisted living, and $18 per hour for non-skilled in-home aid, with all three continuing to increase at a rate outpacing the Consumer Price Index. Unless planned for in advance, the cost of long term care has the potential to deplete the financial assets of most citizens in just a year or two.

"A majority of Michigan residents don't know the high costs associated with long term care and they often inaccurately believe these services are fully covered by public programs when often they are not. Also, more than six out of 10 haven't begun to plan for their future care," said Lisa Wendt, CEO of LifeSecure, a Michigan-based long-term care insurance company.

To assist people in navigating the unfamiliar waters of long term care, Granholm recommends sending for the free Own Your Future planning guide for long term care. The guide provides basic facts about long term care, and suggests some things people can do to plan for financial, housing, and health care needs as they and their loved ones age. The planning guide is available on the web at www.longtermcare.gov or by calling 1-866-752-6582. 

Janet Olszewski, Director of the Michigan Department of Community Health, said younger people may also need long-term care because of an accident, heart attack, stroke, or other reason.

"Of the 13 million Americans in need of long-term care today, nearly 40 percent of them are between the ages of 18 and 64," Olszewski said. "Here in Michigan, meeting the needs of Michigan's senior citizens and disabled citizens continues to be a priority, thanks to the governor's commitment to supporting our long-term care system."

In June 2005, Governor Granholm accepted recommendations from her 21-member Medicaid Long-Term Care Task Force signing Executive Order 2005-14 to establish the Office of Long-Term Care Supports and Services. That office has already begun to assist in the development and implementation of policy and strategies for the task force recommendations.

In 2004, MDCH, in full partnership with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, applied for and received a $5 million grant to strengthen and improve Michigan's long-term care criminal background check laws and to provide $1.5 million in additional abuse and neglect training to thousands of Michigan long-term care workers.

In 2005, Governor Granholm also announced a Jobs Today initiative to modernize Michigan's oldest nursing homes and replace them with homes that permit more privacy, dignity, and family-friendly designs.

In June 2006, Governor Granholm announced four groundbreaking awards worth nearly $3.5 million over two years for Long-Term Care Single Point of Entry (SPE) demonstration sites in Michigan. The establishment of long-term care SPEs was a key recommendation in the final report of the Medicaid Long-Term Care Task Force.

By signing PA 674 of 2006 into law, Governor Granholm and the Legislature directed the Department of Community Health (DCH), in collaboration with the Office of Financial and Insurance Services and the Department of Human Services, to establish a Long Term Care Insurance Partnership program in Michigan to provide for the financing of long term care through a combination of private insurance and Medicaid.

The MDCH Office of Long Term Care Services is leading the effort to develop qualifying criteria for long term care insurance products, producer/agent training requirements, consumer education and marketing. It is the intent of the initiative that qualifying long term care insurance products be available for sale in Michigan beginning July 1, 2008.