How Does LTCi Protect Young Families?

How Does LTCi Protect Young Families? By Susan P. Payne How Does LTCi protect young families? Every day many people of all ages experience a significant change in health status. How would it impact your family if a sudden unexpected accident or illness happened? Are you prepared to handle the cost associated with long-term care? Needing long term care help is a family issue. What will happen to saving for the kids college? Your retirement? Your finances? Planning for a secure future can be possible with integrating Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCi) protection planning.

LTCi is important, yet overlooked by many. It is the day-to-day help you need when a serious illness, injury or disability makes you physically or cognitively unable to care for yourself for a long period of time. This type of care is usually provided at home, in an assisted living facility, adult day care or, lastly, in a nursing home. No one ever wants to think about a catastrophic illness or an accident like a broken leg or hip. Close your eyes and think about what life would be like with a broken hip. You could not walk, bathe or dress yourself. You would need someone to assist you in your normal activities of daily living. Could you depend on your family? Would you spouse have to miss work? Would the kids need to miss school or their sporting events?

How will having a Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCi) plan help you and your family? 1. Protects your independence,live how you want, where you want

2. Protects your family from the potential burden of being your caretaker

3. Protect your savings, college funds and retirement plans from the high cost of long term care

4. Many plans will pay for home health care providers, home health aides and caregivers, giving you freedom to choose what makes you comfortable.

Why does someone my age need to think about long-term care? Today you are healthy. But 24-hours from now, things can change. Many illnesses, once considered to be life threatening, are now life altering with the medical advances in place today. Many now leave you ‘disabled’ relying on others for care, sometimes for short periods of time, sometimes for life. Long term care protection requires you to “health qualify”. No matter how much you would be willing to pay, a change in health can make it impossible for you to health qualify for long term care insurance. For individuals who are currently young and in good health, you have the possibility of locking in “preferred rates” for your lifetime. Cost for insurance can be significantly lower at younger ages so you will save money! You lock in savings and you can never be canceled even if your health changes. You may benefit now and again later as many people need and use their benefits when they are young and again when they are older.

How does LTCi protect young families? Because things can change tomorrow, now is the right time!

Simplifying Long Term Care

What is Long-Term Care? When people consider the subject of long-term care, they often think about nursing homes. In fact, long-term care has little to do with nursing homes. Understanding the difference can help you protect your family and finances.

The Consequences of Living Longer

Long-term care is a continuum of care services and housing that you will need later in life. Think you won’t live a long life? Think back 25 years ago. If you had cancer or a stroke, you simply died. Few ever heard of Alzheimer’s. Today, it is the leading cause for long-term care services. The longer you live, the more likely you are to need care. The question is not who will take care of you, because your family will most often, but rather what will that care do to your family and finances.

Long-Term Care is Usually Custodial Care

Long-term care is defined as needing assistance with your activities of daily living (toileting, bathing, dressing, eating, transferring from one point to another, and continence). It also includes cognitive impairment so severe that the individual needs constant supervision. If you need custodial care, chances are it will be delivered in the community, not in a nursing home. Many of you have heard compelling statistics from The New England Journal of Medicine stating that 43% of those over age 65 will need nursing home care. What the article actually said is that that number may spend some time in a facility. The fact is, few end their days in one. Every study conducted finds that care is overwhelmingly provided at home. The key question, of course, is who is going to pay for it? Who Covers the Cost?

Medicare & VA

Medicare, the primary health care program for retirees pays only for skilled or rehabilitative care, not custodial care in any venue. Medicaid, a federal and state program for financially needy individuals will pay for custodial care, but primarily in nursing homes. Funding for home care and assisted living is very limited and based on availability of funds. Veterans believe that the VA will pay for home care, adult day care, or assisted living. As with Medicaid, funding is limited and generally based on service-related disability. In fact, the federal government has as much said this to veterans by encouraging them to purchase long-term care insurance through the new Federal Long-Term Care Insurance program. The result is that consumers are forced to pay privately for their care. Unfortunately, the best thought-out retirement plan rarely takes into consideration living a long life. Put another way, those assets and income have been allocated to pay for retirement, not for the consequences of living a long life. This results in the need to invade principal and divert income. As a result, one of a seniors’ greatest fear, outliving their assets, literally may come true.

The Role of Long-Term Care Insurance

The use of long-term care insurance thus becomes an important part of planning for disability caused by living a long life. The product has two roles: helping keep families together and allowing your retirement portfolio to execute for the purpose for which it was intended, namely retirement. From a family perspective, who will provide your care? Like it or not, children will play a key role. Long-term care insurance (LTCI) doesn’t replace the need for family involvement in providing care but rather builds on it. It pays professionals to assist the person with the toughest tasks such as toileting, bathing, feeding and continence. This, in turn, allows the family to provide care better and longer at home. That leads to a critical question: have YOU planned for the consequences of living a long life? From a financial point of view, LTCI allows your retirement plan to stay intact. That is particularly important given the recent steep decline in portfolio value. The product, in effect, protects the balance of your account value. LTCI also protects income. Although you may qualify for Medicaid to pay for nursing home costs by transferring assets, your income (pension, social security, IRA and or 401k payout) cannot be protected. When buying this insurance, look for a long-term care specialist. Consider their training, educational credentials, and commitment to help solve your long-term care needs. The key is whether they talk first about a plan or a product. If they are interested in the plan, you are dealing with a professional. If they focus first on product and price, consider getting another opinion.

How You Can Use Long Term Care Insurance

Most of us never want to imagine growing old, being sick or needing long term care. But for 70 percent of people, this is something that they have to face. And the sad thing is that many of them are not insured with long term care insurance.

What is long term care insurance? It is an insurance policy that pays for your stay in a nursing facility or long term care facility. As people begin to live longer, the need for long term care facilities has become apparent. For this reason, it is wise for you to purchase long term care insurance.

You can use long term care insurance in many different ways. Some include the following:

After an accident If you have a catastrophic accident, the last thing you need to do is worry about the cost of the medical facility where you are being treated. In most cases, after the danger period is over, you will be transferred to a nursing home or rehabilitation facility. This can be costly and your insurance may only pay a portion for this care.

This is where long term care insurance can benefit you. It can pay what the insurance company does not cover. This way, you will not be paying out of pocket for your care.

After an illness Long term care is not often final care. In many cases, someone recovering from an illness needs nursing care around the clock but is stable enough to be moved from the hospital. In such cases, people are often sent to long term care facilities. Medicare and insurance only cover a portion of these costs. If you cannot pay, you will be forced to go on public aid – after you have sold everything you own. This can be financially devastating to you when you recover.

Long term final care If you get to a point in your life where you have an irreversible condition and need nursing care, you can get a policy that will last over 4 years. This will pay for your care in the final stages of your life and not eat away at your savings. You will not be a burden to your loved ones and will still be able to leave some money to your heirs.

None of us likes to think of these scenarios, but they happen every day. This is why it is so important to consider long term care insurance Long term care insurance can help you in many ways and allow you to retain what you worked so hard to save.

Long Term Care Insurance Essentials

If you want to get a long term care insurance quote, it is essential that you know what is involved. This article will show you six essential factors to take into consideration. If you want an ltci quote, there is so much information you will want to know about so that you can make an informed decision. This information is based upon factors such as what type of benefits you want to receive when using your policy.

A long term care insurance quote is contingent upon many factors and following are some of the points to consider. Your age and what type of benefits will cause your quote to vary.

When you are thinking about long-term care, you need to think about what types of benefits you will want. You can receive in-home service, nursing home care, or community based services to give you an idea.

Your age is going to determine the cost of the policy. If you are younger and buying a policy, you will almost certainly receive a lower premium.

The types of companies you approach for an ltci quote can help determine a different cost in your quote. You may be able to receive this quote through your employer.

The type of policy you choose will cause different quotes. You can choose a policy which will pay a maximum daily, weekly or monthly limit or one which pays up to a certain dollar amount.

The age at which you can start using your benefits will be a question that an insurance agent will ask you.

Daily benefits can also pay a part in the quote you receive from an insurance agent. If you want higher daily benefits, this will cause your ltci quote to be higher.

Hopefully this has given you good information regarding long term care insurance quotes. More information is always better so that you have an idea what to expect and you can have thought through what you want out of your policy.

How Much Long-Term Care Coverage Do I Need?

Long-term care may be needed for yourself, or a loved one, in the future and you need to prepare for that possibility. However, it can be difficult to know exactly how much long-term care they will need in the future, since it is impossible to predict the future. You could end up needing long-term care insurance for a few months following an accident, surgery or illness, or you could need long-term care insurance for years in your old age when you need assistance with day-to-day activities. There is no way to tell how it will be for you.

As a result, you should look at what kind of life you want for yourself in the event you need long-term care. Do you want to have the same financially stable life you currently enjoy, or do you want just enough insurance to get by because you have a large savings? These are the questions you need to ask yourself before you go about getting your long-term care insurance coverage.

Generally, you are not going to want to go with the lowest insurance plan because you may not have those savings forever, and even long-term care insurance will only cover so much if you go with the lowest plan. Before you know it, you could end up with no money left and poor insurance coverage. If your long-term care needs go on for years, you could be in a very difficult situation.

As well, you may choose not to go with the highest priced plan, despite the ample benefits it can provide for you. You may choose to not go with the highest priced plan because of you own financial situation at the time, or because you simply do not want to.

Try to go with a middle of the road long-term care plan that will cover you even if you have savings. This will allow you to have the care you need, without having to dip too much into your savings. This will then allow you to last for quite awhile on your savings. As with anything, the middle-road is often the best option to go with. You will not have to spend too much like you would on the higher plans, but you will gain more coverage than you would on the lower plans. It is all about moderation and having a good savings to go along with your long-term care insurance coverage plan.

Conclusion The world is an uncertain place, and while long-term care insurance can provide you with the assurance you need to know about how your life will play out in the event you need long-term care, finding the right coverage can be difficult. If you have the money, go with the higher-cost coverage plans, the more you pay the more you get and the less you worry. If you don’t have much money, then go with the best plan you can afford. You don’t want the lowest plan but if that is all you can pay for; then take it. A little long-term care insurance coverage will be better than none.