Private Long Term Care Insurance?
Written By: Marilyn Katz
Original content

The Need for Long Term Care Insurance

Do you need long term care insurance (LTC or LTCi) to help you meet your retirement and long term financial plans? I think that you are making a big gamble if you do not consider how you will pay for the possibility of needing some sort of long term nursing care or assisted living. Consider how this is becoming an even bigger risk as we age.

We are Living Longer, but Will Be More Likely to Need Care

Americans are living longer, and this is good news. You have probably heard the news that many term life insurers are actually reducing premiums because we have increased our average life spans. However, that happy news also comes with an increased chance we will spend an increased amount of time with nursing care. In fact, experts estimate that 50 – 70 percent of us will need some help as we age!

Nursing or Living Care Costs Money

Live in help, and especially nursing care, is not cheap. A traditional nursing home can cost $4,000 a month or more. That is in today’s dollars, and costs have been increasing. Many families have seen a lifetime of savings evaporate because of an extended stay in a nursing facility.

Other forms of care may not be much cheaper. If a person gets care from home health professionals, it can also cost thousands a month depending upon the type of care. A few hours a week to prepare meals may not cost much, but if care is needed 24 hours a day, imagine the cost of paying for 3 shifts of home health care workers that have to be there 7 days a week!

Assisted living facilities are usually less expensive, but still can cost thousands of dollars each month. And people must be qualified to enter them. Others may simply be too ill for assisted living, and must go to a more expensive full service nursing facility. It is impossible to predict these things.

Does Health Insurance Cover Extended Nursing Care?

Most health insurance, including Medicare, does not cover long term stays in a facility. Medicare covers a few months, but then stops paying. Medicaid, the federal health insurance for poor people, kicks in only after most assets are depleted. Health insurance is usually not a good solution to this problem.

What Kinds of LTCI Can You Find?

What kinds of LTCI can you find on the market? Major insurers offer a variety of policies. Waiting periods, daily rates, and covered maximum stays vary. Some cover any type of care that an individual needs, while others only cover specific types of care. One policy may only cover a nursing facility, while other policies may cover any choice that is made that makes sense for the covered person.

How Much Does Long Term Care Insurance Cost?

Again, rates will depend upon the type of policy you find, the insurer, and your local area. Beyond that, an applicant’s age, general health, and health status will affect the cost. You can find some simple online insurance quote forms to help you compare the policies and prices that you can find in your area.

If you have questions regarding Long-Term Care Insurance, please visit us at www.californialongtermcare.com.

BUYING INSURANCE
By Thomas Day
Original Content HERE

Why Should You Buy Long-Term Care Insurance?
1. It will help you keep your independence and dignity. Here’s how. . . some of you will spend all your assets on care while others plan to give their money away or put it in trust. With no assets you will now qualify for a welfare program called Medicaid. Medicaid typically pays for a semiprivate room in a nursing home, and; not all nursing homes take Medicaid patients. In many states it’s not easy to get Medicaid to cover home care or pay for assisted living. Many people want to stay at home, but with Medicaid may not be able to. And assisted living is rapidly becoming a preferred alternative to nursing home care for certain disabilities but Medicaid may insist on a nursing home instead.

A nursing home is not the most desirable place to finish out one’s life. For many, a terminal stay in a nursing facility robs them of a purpose in life and strips away their dignity. As an example, have you ever thought of the indignity of being bathed, toiletted or diapered in a nursing home environment? No wonder many people express the desire to die before ever having to go into a nursing home.

For some conditions a nursing home is the only alternative, but for many long-term care patients there are more options than nursing homes. A good long term-care insurance policy covers those options and when all else fails, it pays for nursing homes too.

2. If you are married and you have a need for long-term care, your spouse may be forced to pay for an outside care giver. The cost is likely to come from your combined income and assets. If the need for paid care drags on too long, your spouse may be left with minimal cash assets for future needs. Insurance solves this problem and allows your spouse to keep the assets.

3. Many healthy care-giving spouses won’t spend their money and choose to “tough it out” on their own without help. If care of a disabled spouse drags on too long, this can have a devastating effect on the physical and emotion health of the caregiver. Surveys reveal that even though healthy caregivers often don’t spend their money for help, they will use insurance if available. Insurance allows the healthy caregiver to buy much-needed respite from paid professionals, while at the same time, retaining the assets and possibly avoiding an early death from the mental and physical stress of caregiving.

4. If your children or extended family promise to take care of you when the time comes, insurance will help them do that. Probably you nor your children have thought of the prospects of moving you from place to place, changing your dirty diapers, cleaning up after “accidents” in the bathroom or helping you with bathing and dressing. Insurance will pay for aides to help with these tasks.

5. If you are single and a need for long-term care arises, insurance can pay for and coordinate that care. With insurance you won’t have to feel you would be a burden for family or friends.

6. If you have the desire to leave assets behind when you die, insurance will help preserve those assets from the cost of long term care.

Why Not Buy This Insurance When You’re Older?
1. Don’t forget that 43% of those needing long term care are under age 65. You may need it now.

2. Roughly every two years insurance companies come out with new policies. Although these policies contain many new benefits and features, they are also more expensive for new people signing up than the previous policy. Estimates are, because of this rate creep, new applicants for long-term care insurance are paying about 5% more each year than applicants at the same age would be paying with older policies. At this rate of increase, ten years from now, a policy for a 50 year old would cost 50% more than an equivalent policy for a 50 year old would cost today.

3. To get long term care insurance you must answer questions relating to your health. If you wait, you may develop a condition that would prevent you from obtaining coverage.

4. The cost of coverage increases with age. For younger ages you can get a rate that is relatively inexpensive. At older ages the rate becomes very expensive.

5. It costs less, over time, buying now than buying equivalent coverage in the future. The 20 year total cost of buying now is less than the 19 year total cost of buying next year, or the 18 year cost of the next year, and so on.

Why Not Invest the Premiums Instead of Buying Insurance?
The invested amount of premiums over 20 years, may be only 5% to 12% of the potential insurance benefit. A 6 year insurance benefit may only yield ½ year of long term care if the premiums are invested instead. Besides, if you invested premiums, where would the money come from if you needed long term care next year or even 5 or 10 years from now? The saved premium account wouldn’t have time to grow.

Why Waste Money on Insurance if You Have Assets to Cover the Cost Directly?
The same question could be asked of auto, home owner’s or medical insurance. Why not self-insure there as well? You could just as easily pay your medical bills from your pocket. Or pay for damage to your cars and loss of your home out-of-pocket and possibly save a lot of money over time? No matter what the risk, the total cost of premiums over a long period is usually a fraction of the cost of paying a claim from your own pocket. The purpose we buy insurance is to preserve assets by leveraging premiums to buy a benefit at pennies on the dollar instead of paying dollar-for-dollar out-of-pocket for a loss. The probability of a house fire is 1 in 1200, of having a major auto accident is 1 in 240 and of needing long term care is 1 in 2 . With a much higher probability doesn’t long term care insurance make as much sense as buying those other coverages?

Why Don’t You Get Your Money Back if You Don’t Use the Insurance?
This question always begs the underlying reason for it’s being asked. In essence the person with this concern is thinking, “it won’t happen to me, so it’s a waste of money”. To play to this objection, many carriers design policies with cash values, life insurance death benefits or return of premium at death. But these features increase premium cost and sometimes make coverage unaffordable. The same question could be asked of all insurance. Why don’t we get a refund with term life, health, disability, commercial lines, auto, or homeowners insurance? People seem to take it in stride, paying $80,000 for auto insurance or $20,000 for homeowners insurance over their lifetime. Then when they make a claim, if they ever do, they get their coverage canceled or more likely their rates are increased to cover the cost of the claim. Yet, out of denial or ignorance they can’t see why they should pay $40,000 over their lifetime for long-term care insurance where the probability for a claim is higher and the risk of loss is 4 to 10 times higher than the risk of loss with a car or home.

If you would like more information regarding Long Term Care Insurance, please visit us at  www.californialongtermcare.com.

The Facts Are Clear About Long Term Care Insurance

Click HERE for article source

Anyone with even a passing experience with Alzheimer’s, stroke, Parkinson’s or elder frailty can appreciate the severity and financial devastation of these all-too-common life events and the inevitable care required.

This is why we want protection.

• The average Ancient Greek lived until age 18. The median life span of a Puritan was 33. The average American  life expectancy is now about 75 years for men, 84 for women. Over half of Americans will spend part of these these extended years in long term care situations.

• By 2030, one in five Americans will be a senior citizen. If you are a Baby Boomer, this includes you.  Americans are living longer and healthier, thanks to better diet, better medical care and safer living & working environments. Yet no one is immune to the effects of aging and longevity – effects that often result in reduced physical or mental ability.

• In 1994, 7.3 million Americans needed long term care (LTC) services at an average cost of nearly $43,800 per year. By 2000, this number rose to 9 million Americans at nearly $55,750 per year. It’s currently near $75,000 per year. By 2030 those needing LTC will skyrocket to 23+ million Americans, with projected, individual long term care costs reaching $300,000 annually per individual!

Will you have that kind of money to spare?

With a history of millions of Americans in care situations living with longevity, elder frailty, stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Spinal Cord Injury, Cerebral Palsy, accidents and other conditions that affect 50+% of folks over age 65 , we can testify to the need for mature thinking and adult decisions when it comes to long term care planning.

If you are planning ahead and need more information on Long Term Care Insurance, please visit www.californialongtermcare.com.