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60 Seconds with Swett: Kamala Proposes Medicare Coverage of In-Home Senior Care
We are getting down to the wire in the 2024 presidential election, and the grasping for new groups of constituents is getting more intense. To appeal to the “sandwich generation,” or those middle-aged people that are simultaneously caring for their children and for their aging parents, Kamala Harris is now proposing a new Medicare benefit for in-home eldercare. As if we haven’t had enough politicization of long-term care from politicians this year. The proposal would cover long-term home care services, including health aides. Right now, Medicare only covers certain home health services with restrictions on hours of care per day and per week, and it does not cover 24-hour care at home like... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: 2024 Already Surpasses 500 Deals
The optimism in the seniors housing and care industry was palpable at the NIC Fall Conference in Washington, D.C. last week, partially because of interest rates falling for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, but also partially because of the record-setting M&A streak we have been on for most of the year, so far. We are three quarters into 2024, and we have already virtually reached 2023’s annual deal total of 511 deals, at 508 deals according to LevinPro LTC. If you include the deals made public on October 1, we have surpassed that total, with an entire quarter to go. And if the anecdotal stories of BOVs, new listings and closing pipelines are true, we are going to shatter... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: The Surprising Price of Aging at Home
Despite the enormous opportunity that demographics offer the seniors housing industry in the next decade, the affordability factor may prove to seriously sink demand for the product. That makes it that much more important for the industry to provide more middle- and lower-market options but also to demonstrate its value to the consumer. Demonstrating its value relative to alternatives such as…living at home…could prove effective too, which is why ASHA just released a new Special Issue Brief called The Surprising Price of Staying in a House: Cost Comparisons Often Favor Senior Living. The title gives it away. Prepared by Dan Bernstein, formerly of Stifel and Capital One, and available for... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: Rates Tumble on Eve of NIC
Two years ago at the NIC Fall Conference, the spike in interest rates, with the 10-Year Treasury rate heading above 3.5%, seemed to spook many investors, as deals started disintegrating left and right. That did not help to lift the mood of everyone there. Then, last year, on the eve of NIC, rates were again spiking, this time above 4.5% and heading to 5.0%. The Fed may have stopped its rate increases, but the costs of borrowing were not on the decline. At least there was a belief that the worst had passed, or at least we were in the middle of the worst. Again, did not lift the spirit of the thousands of NIC attendees, and thank you for the open bars. Now, we are approaching another... Read More »