


Class Act for Washington State?
Washington has passed its version of a long-term care insurance bill, sort of, using a payroll tax to fund it. Unlike the misconceived Class Act that was originally part of the Affordable Care Act, which was designed to rob Peter to pay Paul, Washington State has just passed its own version, The Long-Term Care Trust Act. While the intent is worthy, I don’t think it will accomplish its goals. As now passed, the Act will be funded by a payroll tax of 58 cents for every $100 of salary. For someone making $20 per hour, that comes to about $240 per year, and they can least afford it. I have seen no mention of an employer match, but I am sure that is coming. The sponsors claim that family... Read More »
CEOs and Other C-Suiters: It’s Time to Roll Up Your Sleeves
Steve Monroe has a message for the CEOs and other C-Suiters in the senior care industry. Read More »
Senior Housing Properties Trust Dividend Takes a Dive
If you read our lead story in the April issue of The SeniorCare Investor, you may have thought it couldn’t get much worse for Senior Housing Properties Trust (SNH) and its tenant Five Star Senior Living (FVE). And then on Thursday, SNH officially dropped its quarterly dividend by 61.5% from $0.39 to just $0.15 per share, with a forward yield of 7.43%. The company had previously mentioned that they would lower its annual dividend to between $0.55 and $0.65 (and deciding on $0.60), but if a dividend decline is bad on its own, it’s even worse for SNH whose high, double-digit yield was probably its best asset in the eyes of its shareholders. Now, SNH’s yield still ranks higher than a number of... Read More »
Misleading Information for Consumers
A professor with a new book on dementia care claims a semi-private room in a “decent” nursing facility in a big city costs $240,000 per year. Hogwash. I hate it when bad information gets out there, and a professor of psychiatry and bioethics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine should know better. Especially someone coming out with a book called: Dementia Revisited: Building a Life of Joy and Dignity from Beginning to End.” Dr. Tia Powell published a story last weekend in The Wall Street Journal called “New Hopes for Dementia Care.” In it, she claims that the cost for a semi-private room in a “decent” nursing home in a big city is $240,000 a year if you don’t qualify for... Read More »