LONG-TERM CARE

Costs Increase

Costs for nursing homes, assisted living facilities and some in-home care services have increased for a fifth consecutive year and might continue to rise as the shortage in long-term health-care workers grows, according to a study by Genworth Financial, a financial consulting company. Researchers examined nationwide data from more than 10,000 nursing homes, assisted living facilities and in-home care providers and found that a private room in a nursing home will cost an average $76,460 in 2008, a 17 percent increase from 2004. Care in an assisted living facility will cost $36,090 this year, a 25 percent increase from 2004. Medicare-certified home-health aides will cost an average $38 per hour this year, while non- certified in-home care providers cost an average of $18 per hour for homemaker services and $19 per hour for home health aid, about the same as in 2004. “The expense of just a few years of long-term care in a facility or at-home can very quickly wipe out a lifetime of savings,” Buck Stinson, president of long-term care insurance at Genworth told the AP/Houston Chronicle. “Baby boomers need to do more thinking about their own retirement plan and how they're going to age." In a companion study, researchers found that low wages and few benefits as well as a lack of training and career-advancement potential, make it very difficult to recruit and retain workers in long-term care. Close to 200,000 people will need to be recruited to long-term care to keep pace with the aging demographic, researchers said.

PUBLIC HEALTH

Nutrition Information

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on April 30 ruled that New York City may implement a rule that requires some restaurants to display the caloric content of their products. The court rejected a request by the New York State Restaurant Association for an injunction against the rule, which is set to go into effect July 18. The regulation requires chain restaurants with at least 15 outlets nationwide to display the caloric content of their products on menus and menu boards. Violators of the rule could face fines. The city first enacted the rule in December 2006 but delayed implementation because of a lawsuit filed by the restaurant association. In September 2007, Judge Richard Holwell of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan blocked implementation, which he said would violate federal law. The city in October 2007 proposed a revised version of the rule, which Judge Holwell upheld last month. City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden praised the decision, saying in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “some chains have worked hard to deny customers information they need to make healthy food choices.”

D.C. to Fund Needle Exchanges

Washington, D.C. will spend $494,000 in city money to expand needle-exchange programs in the city during the summer, the Washington Post reports. Congress barred D.C. from spending public funds on needle exchanges up until early this year, when President Bush signed an omnibus bill lifting the ban. Half the District money will go to PreventionWorks!, a non-profit group that runs the District's only program that's up and running. The group will use the money to expand outreach efforts. The rest of the money will go to a series of local non-profits that serve at-risk populations. In 2007, D.C. health officials released a report that found injected drug use is the second leading cause of HIV/AIDS transmission in the city.