Long Term Care...The Rest of the Story

Long Term Care Insurance is quite possibly the most underutilized insurance product with the best bang for the buck on the market today.  Before we get into the dollars and cents, let me paraphrase a definition.  Long Term Care can take on many forms: skilled nursing, assited living, nursing home, in home aid, certified family member looking after you.  The way that insurance companies define it is where the rubber meets the road.  A couple of months ago, a rep. from a major LTC insurance provider stated that if a person is unable to perform at least two ADL's (activities of daily living) then they can make a claim on their LTC policy.  ADL's are common things.  I am sure that if you gave it just a little thought, you could come up with a handful of people in your inner circle that could have used this type of insurance (after car accident, stroke, surgery...).  The thing that most folks don't understand about making a claim is that it doesn't have to be for forever.  If you just needed aid for a couple of months, that would be an option, and after said care was rendered, the policy would still be in force;  now that's insurance.

Now lets talk dollars.  As I said, LTC can cover many types of care:  skilled nursing ($100-300/day), assisted living ($1000/month and up), nursing home ($2000/month and up), in home aid (20/hr and up), and a family member (certified ) caring for you (whatever they want to charge).  There are other types of covered care, but this is a decent list.  The dollar amounts noted are empirical to my experiences in Arizona.  In my opinion, LTC insurance is cool because you could use in the event that you needed it when you are young, but the vast majority of people will require some form of long term care when they get older.

A good example is a 70 year old woman that needs more care than her family can handle.  She would be well served to get into an assisted living facility.  For this example let assume that they wanted a very nice facility where meals were provided, and there were nurses on staff at all times.  This might cost around $3000-$4000 per month.  If they didn't have an LTC policy in place, she, or her family would be on the hook for about $50,000/year.  This lady wasn't sick, just needed some care.  Grandma might live to be 85 or 90.  The costs of this facility could definitely add up.  If the funds dried up, she would have to change facilities, or rely on Medicaid to foot the bill (at a Medicaid approved facility).  If she had Long Term Care Insurance, a pool of money would have been growing (tax free) since the day of inception.  I could go on and on about how much money she would have had, and saved, with a little forethought.

Scenarios like these are endless, and each situation is different.  The best way to get into one of these plans is at a young age.  This will allow you to take advantage of time, and truly grow a vast pool of money that you can use when the time comes.  As modern medicine continues to improve, life expectancy increases.  The fact is, for 60% (or more) of us, the day that we need long term care will come.

Opinions, Comments and Thoughts are appreciated



For a quote, contact me at www.insphereis.com/tuzzell



http://www.squidoo.com/longtermcare
http://www.consumerinsuranceguide.com/long_term_care_insurance/long-term-care-insurance-is-more-than-nursing-home-care/
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20130303-LIFE-303030324