YOUR LIFE.

• Position: Life insurance, long term care facilities, and vaccination rates in rural areas

LIFE INSURANCE ROADBLOCKS PERSIST

Life insurance ownership across the nation has dropped by nine percent in the last decade. It is estimated that 27% of nonelderly adults in the U.S. have at least one preexisting condition that would disqualify them from getting life insurance--that is 53,800,000 people, notes NerdWallet.

"The decline in insurance coverage is partly due to how frustrating the process of obtaining coverage is. Large legacy companies are sticking with outdated insurance technology--using actuarial tables that haven't kept up with changing needs. Those obsolete ways of determining eligibility are part of why a large number of Americans with preexisting conditions are rejected for life insurance," says Paul Ford, cofounder and CEO of Traffk, a cloud-based insurance platform.

"What we do is run the data via medical records and pharmacy records to see how people manage their conditions. If we find it's suppressed and/or very well managed and their vitals are just as normal as anyone else's, we help them."

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, people have had to confront their need for mortality protection. Despite the radical changes society underwent to keep people safely at home, most legacy companies have been stubborn about digitization, Ford contends.

Actuarial tables being used by these older companies are at least 40 to 50 years old, and they are not keeping pace with the reality of atrisk insurance enrollment, maintains Ford. "These outdated methods do not consider how insurance and public health has changed in that time. It's a lose-lose situation, with a large swath of the population being unable to access life insurance and tying the hands of agents who otherwise could be making more sales.

This system of determining someone's risk based off his or her age, zip code, and preexisting conditions isn't working. People are being left out, and their efforts to manage their own illnesses are being ignored.

ASSISTED LIVING PROVIDERS IN CRISIS

There is an urgent need to address the workforce crisis facing the long-term care industry, according to a survey conducted by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows nursing homes and other residential care facilities have lost 380,000 employees since February 2020. As many caregivers are getting burned out by the pandemic, a number of providers do not have the financial means to offer competitive wages, resulting in workers leaving the field for jobs in other health care settings or other industries altogether.

Key findings of the survey include:

* 86% of nursing homes and 77% of assisted living providers indicate their workforce situation has gotten worse over the last four months.

* Nearly every nursing home (99%) and assisted living facility (96%) in the U.S. is facing a staffing shortage; 59% of nursing homes and almost one-third of assisted living providers are experiencing a high level of staffing shortages.

* More than seven out of 10 nursing homes and assisted living communities say a lack of qualified candidates and high unemployment benefits have been the biggest obstacles in hiring new staff.

* Due to these shortages, nearly every nursing home and assisted living community is asking staff to work overtime or extra shifts. Nearly 70% of nursing homes are having to hire expensive agency staff and 58% are limiting new admissions.

* 78% of nursing homes and 61% of assisted living facilities are concerned workforce challenges might force them to close. More than onethird of nursing homes are very concerned about having to shut down their facilities.

VACCINATION RATES LOWER IN RURAL AREAS

A combination of higher Donald Trump vote share and lower educational attainment help explain the lower COVID-19 vaccination rates in rural areas of the U.S., claims a study published in the Journal of Rural Health.

"Very few people who havent gotten vaccinated are going to change their minds at this point; they've dug in their heals, and misinformation is rampant," says lead author Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology at Syracuse (N.Y) University and director of the Center for Public Health Promotion. "The mosteffective way to prevent continued spread, reduce hospitalizations, and save lives is to mandate vaccines." Here are some of the researchers' key findings:

* COVID-19 vaccination rates vary substantially across the U.S., with some counties nearing 100% while others have rates under five percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

* As of August, 46% of adults in rural counties had been fully vaccinated compared to 60% in...