“Maximize Your Dollars During Money Smart Week” Part 2: Long-Term Care Financial Planning

April 24, 2018

Money Smart Week helps consumers manage their personal finances better. We have put together a four-part series called “Maximize Your Dollars During Money Smart Week” showcasing different Federal publications to offer financial planning for American citizens.

  • Part 1 will focus on financial aid
  • Part 2 will focus on long-term healthcare planning
  • Part 3 will focus on retirement planning
  • Part 4 will focus on the U.S. Federal Government Finances

Part 2: Long-Term Care Financial Planning

“Maximize Your Dollars During Money Smart Week” presents #eldercare resources for seniors and their families to plan for long-term care needs.

Need help planning for long-term healthcare and figuring out what services are covered by Medicare?

Medicare & Home Health Care is the official Federal Government resource providing you with the “Go-To” information you need to determine your Medicare rights.  It helps answer these questions:

  • Who’s eligible?
  • What services are covered?
  • How do I find and compare home health agencies?

Medicare-eligible individuals and their families, home health care personnel and agencies, skilled-nursing care facilities, physical and occupational therapists, physicians and medical teams that treat Medicare patients, may be most interested in this guide. Many may find the Home Health Agency and Home Health Care checklists helpful in finding home health care for their needs. A glossary is also included for a better understanding of health care terms..

Your Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home or Other Long-Term Services & Supports provides a detailed outline of different types of insurance., Here you’ll find an explanation of the role  Medicare and Medicaid play in the process of acquiring nursing home care or alternative types of care. The guide also provides a “Definitions” section and a Nursing Home checklist. People considering entering nursing homes or receiving elder care, as well as family members helping to make this choice with their elderly loved ones, will find this informative publication extremely helpful.

Don’t forget … just like younger people, seniors need exercise too – Check out our resources collection on aging and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Part 1 in this blog series – Financial Planning for Post-High School Education

Coming soon – Part 3 Retirement Planning and Federal Finance Management

The GPO Online Bookstore – Easy Access to Federal Publications

HOW DO I OBTAIN THESE RESOURCES?

Shop Online Anytime: You can buy eBooks or print publications —with FREE Standard Shipping worldwide— from the U.S. Government Online Bookstore at https://bookstore.gpo.gov.

Shop our Retail Store: Buy a copy of any print editions from this collection at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Federal holidays, Call (202) 512-0132 for information or to arrange in-store pick-up.

Order by Phone: Call our Customer Contact Center Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5:30 pm Eastern (except US Federal holidays). From US and Canada, call toll-free 1.866.512.1800. DC or International customers call +1.202.512.1800.

Visit a Federal depository library: Search for U.S. Government publications in a nearby Federal depository library. You can find the records for most titles in GPO’s Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.

About the author: This week’s blog contributor is Maureen Whelan, Senior Marketing Team Leader for GPO’s Publication and Information Sales program office in Washington, DC. Maureen oversees print and digital content dissemination strategy and manages third party free and paid content distribution through platforms and vendors, such as Apple iBookstore, Barnesandnoble.com, Google Play eBookstore, Ebscohost databases, Overdrive, and ProQuest.

Leave a Comment » | aging, Department of Health & Human Services, finances, Health care | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Trudy Hawkins

Social Security Facts and Figures

September 10, 2012

Guest blogger, GPO Public Relations Specialist Emma Wojtowicz, reviews a new publication giving the “Fast Facts & Figures” about the U.S. Social Security System.

The Federal Government offers many publications to educate and inform the public. If there is a topic that interests you or that you want to learn more about, Government publications are a great resource. Not all publications are long, dense and written as legal briefs.

Fast Facts & Figures About Social Security, 2011 is a 36-page booklet that accomplishes what the title suggests – providing readers with fast facts and figures about Social Security.

Social Security is always a hot topic with election-year fact checkers, and this annual publication does a good job breaking down the information so the reader can understand and better grasp this important topic.

The introduction describes the publication as a “chartbook” which it is with at least one chart, graph, or table on each page. This is a smart way to present the information because it allows the reader to gain a lot of knowledge from just scanning each page.

Like most Government-related publications there are many acronyms that readers are not familiar with, luckily, this publication includes a list of abbreviations and acronyms on the second page which is helpful for understanding the content, such as OASI which stands for Old-Age and Survivors Insurance.

The data focuses on Social Security programs for retired workers and their dependents, disabled workers and their dependents, and survivors of a deceased worker, which benefits or assists over 59.2 million Americans.

Here are some of noteworthy Social Security facts and figures for 2011:

  • Of all adults receiving monthly Social Security benefits, 44% are men and 56% are women.
  • The recipients of Social Security benefits are  64% retired workers, 15% disabled workers, 12% survivors of decreased workers, and 9% dependents of a retired or disabled worker.
  • The average Social Security benefit for a worker who retires at full retirement age is $1,176 per month, and the maximum Social Security benefit a worker who retired at full retirement age can receive is $2,366 per month.
  • The average Social Security benefit for the children of a deceased worker is $750 per month.
  • Social Security is financed from three sources: 82% from payroll taxes, 15% from interest earned on Government bonds held by trust funds, and 3% from income taxes on Social Security benefits.
  • For 73% of single elderly (nonmarried aged) beneficiaries (and 54% of elderly couples receiving benefits) in 2011, Social Security provided at least 50% of their total income. Social Security benefits make up over 90% of the total income for 43% of single elderly recipients (and 22% of elderly couples), making Social Security benefits a critical source of monthly income for them to live on (See image below).

The one downside to this publication is that is does not thoroughly explain how Social Security benefits are calculated for recipients; there is a benefit formula, but it is not easy to understand. Despite that negative, the publication provides thorough data in an easy to read format that helps familiarize readers with Social Security.

HOW MAY I OBTAIN “Fast Facts & Figures About Social Security, 2011”?

  • Buy it online 24/7 at GPO’s US Government Online Bookstore.
  • Buy it at GPO’s retail bookstore at 710 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20401, open Monday-Friday, 9am to 4pm, except Federal holidays, (202) 512-0132.
  • Find it in a library.

4 Comments | Social Security Administration (SSA) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Michele Bartram, U.S. Government Online Bookstore

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