This is the January 28, 2008, issue of Elder Law FAX, a free newsletter published by the Elder Law Practice of Timothy L. Takacs.   HHS Partners with States to Raise Awareness On Long-Term Care Planning The Own Your Future Campaign is a project, started in January 2005, to increase consumer awareness about, and planning ahead for, long-term care. The project's core activities are state based direct mail campaigns supported by each participating state's Governor, and targeted to households with members between the ages of 45 to 70.   Campaign materials include a Long-Term Care Planning Kit and state specific information and resources. The Planning Guide is available at no cost to the consumer, and may be ordered or downloaded from http://www.longtermcare.gov.   As of  2007, 16 states, including Tennessee, participated in the joint federal-state initiative called Own Your Future. Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that Ohio and Pennsylvania will join also join the federal program.   "This is an aggressive education and outreach effort designed to promote long-term care planning. We are working closely with officials in Ohio and Pennsylvania and the other states already in the program to promote the importance of planning so all Americans will have the resources and information available to begin planning for their long-term care early on in life," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said.   The Own Your Future education effort includes information on various ways to finance one's long-term care. "There's a widespread misconception that Medicare pays for long-term care, but in fact, it only pays for very short term stays in skilled nursing facilities following discharge from a hospital," said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Kerry Weems. "With the average monthly cost of a nursing home nearly $5,000, and stays that exceed several years, it's critical for people to start planning while they still have the ability to choose the long-term care service and finance options that are best for them."   Approximately 13 million Americans needed long-term care in 2000. This number is expected to grow substantially in the next 30 years as the population ages. Weems stated that "demographic changes point to a predictable increase in demand for long-term care services. The support of each state is critical in helping us get the message out on planning for future care needs."    To date, over 11 million letters signed by governors in participating states have been mailed to households with individuals in the target audience and from those letters more than 550,000 Long-Term Care Planning Kits have been mailed.   For additional resources on Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) coverage and for help finding and comparing SNFs, the booklet "Medicare Coverage of Skilled Nursing Facility Care" can be found at http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/10153.pdf.