Thinking of Long Term Care

It is important to plan for your long term care needs while you are younger, healthier and insurable.

Since the risk of needing long term care increases with age, persons age 65 and over face at least a 40% life-time risk of entering a nursing home.

It is important to plan for your long term care needs while you are younger, healthier and insurable.

Long term care does not always mean nursing home care
Long term care is the assistance you'd need for an extended period of time if you couldn't perform the activities of daily living (eating, dressing, bathing or toileting) or if you developed a cognitive impairment like Alzheimer's disease.

Long term care can be performed in an institutional setting such as a nursing home or assisted living/residential care facility or even in the comfort of your own home. For example, home care could involve a caregiver coming into the home twice a week to help with household chores or preparing meals, while nursing home care could involve 24-hour skilled nursing care in a traditional nursing home facility.

Average cost for a year in a nursing home is estimated to cost more than $50,000. Staying at home can be costly. Comprehensive home health care can run as high as $38,000 a year.

Will health insurance or Medicare cover the cost of long-term care?
Medicare and the health insurance you already have may not cover all of your long-term care services. Without long-term care insurance, you may end up paying the majority of those expenses draining your savings and force you to ask friends or loved ones for help.

How much of the cost does long-term care insurance cover?
Most long-term care insurance policies pay a fixed amount per day for long-term care services. You choose what that amount is, the length of time benefits will be paid and the deductible period. Benefits can begin immediately, or follow a waiting period.

What is the cost of Long-term care insurance?
Premiums vary depending on type of services covered and daily benefit amount. Cost of premiums increases with age, so a 43-year-old pays about half of what a 60-year-old would pay for long-term care insurance. Generally, the cost of premiums may be far less than the cost of long-term services, especially if policy maximum benefits are utilized.

Benefit Period - (available from 1 year - unlimited) Benefit period is the time frame benefits will be paid as long as the criteria is met.

Elimination/Waiting Periods (30, 60, 90, 180 or 365 Days)
A waiting period is the number of consecutive days you must deemed eligible before benefit payments begin.

Waiver of Premium
Your premiums will be waived once you satisfy your Elimination Period and begin receiving benefits. They will continue to be waived until you discontinue benefits on your policy ends.