U.S.News & World Report Tumblelog

Without a will, your assets could be held in probate court and distributed according to state law.

U.S. News & World Report today released its annual Best Nursing Homes ratings, which offer important guidance to families and healthcare providers caring for people in need of a nursing home. The 2012 ratings recognize top-rated nursing homes in all 50 states.

In addition, U.S. News released an Honor Roll of 39 nursing homes that earned the highest possible ratings in all four quarters of 2011. This year, three states—Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York—have three or more nursing homes on the Honor Roll. States with two homes on the list are: California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington.

U.S. News’s evaluation of nursing homes is based on data from Nursing Home Compare, a consumer website run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The government agency sets and enforces standards for nursing homes (defined as facilities or portions of facilities enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid that provide 24-hour nursing care and other medical services). Homes earn an overall rating of one to five stars, as well as up to five stars in each of three underlying categories: health inspections, nurse staffing, and quality of care.

U.S. News updates each nursing home’s ratings data quarterly. To earn a place on the 2012 Honor Roll, a home had to receive perfect five-star ratings in 2011 in all categories for all four quarters.

“We also display factors like religious affiliation and proximity to family members, because these are important to many families as well,” says Avery Comarow, Health Rankings Editor. He notes that more than 3 million Americans will spend part of 2012 in a nursing home.

A blizzard of articles give advice about the best places to retire. They generally recommend fleeing the North and heading for the Sunbelt, to places in the Carolinas, Florida, or Arizona. Occasionally they offer a surprise retirement spot in Iowa or Indiana. Sometimes they even tout retirement locales outside the United States.

These articles rely on statistics such as the cost of living or winter temperatures. But they miss the most important thing—the human element. Here are the real best places to retire.

Workers on the verge of retirement continue to be worse off than before the recession

For most existing beneficiaries in 2012, the monthly Part B premium will increase only $3.50, to $99.90 from $96.40. Some more recent beneficiaries have already been paying either $115.40 or $110.50 a month, so their premiums will actually decline in 2012. In addition, the annual deductible for Part B expenses is being lowered by $22 next year, to $140 from $162.

Higher-earning beneficiaries (above $170,000 for married couples and $85,000 for individuals) pay larger premiums based on their modified adjusted gross incomes. Here, too, however, 2012 will bring lower premiums.

The increase in Part B premiums was preceded by last week’s announcement that Social Security benefits will rise by 3.6 percent in 2012 due to its annual cost of living adjustment (COLA). Low rates of inflation meant there was no COLA in either 2010 or 2011. Under the government’s “hold harmless” rules, that meant Part B premiums could not rise for existing beneficiaries. However, the premiums did increase for new beneficiaries in 2010 and 2011, and also for higher-income beneficiaries. Now, with a COLA increase in 2012, Part B premiums were permitted to rise as well, and most observers had expected larger increases than those announced. Because the premiums are paid out of monthly Social Security payments, the good news about Part B premiums is that seniors will keep most, if not all, of the 2012 COLA.

Using data from Onboard Informatics, U.S. News selected 10 key attributes that many people look for in a retirement spot, along with a city that excels in meeting each need. Here are 10 excellent places to retire in 2012.

A quarter of retirees think life in retirement is worse than it was before they retired, according to a recent poll of 1,254 individuals age 50 and older by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health. And 44 percent of retirees think their overall quality of life is about the same as it was while they were working. Only 29 percent of retirees say leaving the workforce made their life better. With that in mind, here are seven misconceptions about life in retirement.

The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies just released another one. It appears that Americans are listening to the constant warnings and have devised a new retirement plan: working. According to the Transamerica study, 54 percent of survey respondents expect to continue working past the age of 65. And 39 percent of current employees plan to work past the age of 70 or not retire at all. Planning not to retire is not a retirement plan.

Determine your final wishes. Social scientists who have studied people in their final days report how helpful it is when a person has made the key decisions about the end of their life well in advance. Often, people are not able to make sound decisions as they near death. They often have physical and mental impairments that make such work impossible. Their families may have to make these calls for them, adding a lot of stress to what is already a difficult situation. So, would you like to die at home, in a hospital, or perhaps in a hospice facility (you probably can have hospice at home or in a hospital setting as well)? Have you executed the proper documents providing your spouse or a family member with the authority to make medical decisions should you become incapacitated? Does this person know your preferences for end-of-life care? Do you want to be buried or cremated, or perhaps donate your body to science? Is there a final resting place you have in mind? Who’s going to provide an obituary to your hometown newspaper, and what do you want it to say? Setting aside time to make these decisions will hardly rank among your happiest memories. But you will be providing your family an invaluable gift—allowing them to focus on the loving aspects of your life, not the hassles of wondering how you’d like things handled when you die.

Echoing other recent polls, the survey says there is strong public opposition to trimming Social Security. “Nearly 8 in 10 Americans (79 percent) indicate that leaders in Washington do not understand how hard it is to prepare for retirement.” Beyond maintaining and even strengthening Social Security benefit levels, people said, they want government to make it easier for employers to offer expanded retirement and pension programs.

Build the business around your desired lifestyle. You’re in retirement now. The last thing you want to do is create a bunch of new obligations for yourself. You want a good mix of life and business. Choose a business model and a participation level that allows you to live the life you want in retirement.

Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) offer a full range of services—independent living, assisted living and care for disabled residents, and often dementia care as well. These are often the most expensive facilities for seniors, and they’ve had to scramble the hardest to cope with the downturn.

Factor in Inflation. You may want to start by considering the impact of inflation. With longer life expectancies, the need to finance ongoing living expenses, and the requirement to take annual distributions from retirement accounts, you’ll want to be sure your returns exceed the rising cost of living.