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Americans Risk Losing Life Savings When Retirement Homes Go Bust - Bloomberg
“They spend a bunch of that upfront fee and then they don’t have the cash reserves that they need for the long-term care,” said Jack Barker, a former McKinsey & Co. partner and former principal at the Carlyle Group who has studied CCRC finances. Residents “are taking major league credit risk on those fees and nobody really likes to talk about that.”
To be sure though, CCRCs that have filed bankruptcy are just a fraction of the roughly 1,910 facilities in the US. And it remains rare for residents to be displaced and lose their entire entrance fee in a bankruptcy. In some cases, though, residents have been left with as little as 25 cents on the dollar.
“Ideally, they don’t discharge the obligations to the residents for refundable fees because it’s very hard to attract new residents when that has happened,” said Katherine Pearson, a law professor at Penn State Dickinson Law.
Americans Risk Losing Life Savings When Retirement Homes Go Bust - Bloomberg
At least 16 continuing care retirement communities, or CCRCs, have filed bankruptcy since 2020 as pandemic restrictions, labor shortages, soaring wages and rising supply costs have pushed many to the brink. A recent survey of one type of continuing care retirement community – those that also charge a monthly fee and that offer housing, residential services and unlimited healthcare all at one site -- found that 50% were operating in the red last year.
Under contracts with The Harborside, residents or their heirs are supposed to get as much as 90% of the entrance fee refunded if they move or die. But the contracts can be voided in bankruptcy court, which treats residents as unsecured creditors, pushing them toward the back of the repayment line. The Harborside’s residents could be forced to move and stand to lose as much as $130 million unless a new buyer is found who is willing to take over the residents’ refund obligations.