What’s LTC?

Sherry Myers

Long-Term Care Insurance is designed to pay for expenses incurred when you are unable to care for yourself and need support, whether that's happening in your own home, an adult day care center, an assisted living facility, or some level of nursing home facility care. No other style of insurance pays for this kind of care and an unfunded long-term care episode can ruin even the most carefully constructed financial plan. Not only can it lead to financial ruin, but it often damages family relationships beyond recovery. In my 43 year career, I have seen relationships between brothers and sisters (the impaired's children), and those between children and parents, become so strained that they stop speaking to each other.

Obviously, no one wants to need this type of help, and some people will get LTC coverage they'll never use. With life expectancies on the rise and access to better health care becoming more prevalent, more and more people are living to an age where they'll need some level of support for a period of time.

The cost of LTC coverage varies by where you live and where you desire to be cared for. In Kansas alone, the cost of homemaker services ranges from $3861 monthly to $4767. Assisted living in Kansas can go from $3863 to $4231 and nursing home care from $4527 to $7908. Those numbers are just for basic care too - there can be additions to your coverage that'll allow those you love extra time or attention.

These expenses are monthly, and in order to get an accurate annual picture, you'll have to do a little math. It's also important to remember that rates will increase as time goes by, so if you plan on pushing your purchase off for a few years realize that those rates will have gone up.

Per Genworth's Cost of Care Research

Most often, people fail to realize that this type of care isn't covered by their insurance. Sure, your health insurance will pay for the initial acute expenses related to your stroke or heart attack, but if you don't recover to the point of independence your health insurance is done paying. This type of care is called convalescent care and ...

In another scenario, imagine a widower or widow who's declined in health to that point that they require assistance, but aren't actually sick. Their health insurance certainly isn't going to pay for that care. Dementia or Alzheimer's could easily be a factor in a scenario like this. If you're planning on relying on your children for Long-Term care, know that you'll likely also be asking them to quit their job or neglect their family in order to provide your support.

Well, you could have a long-term care plan in place for your family, and maybe it won't include insurance. Some folks decide to just gamble and live in denial of the risks. In that case, they have a plan. Their plan is to spend their assets to pay for care, cutting into their spouse's quality of life and the inheritance they had planned for the kids.

Or you could buy some sort of long-term care insurance to lessen the impact and risk.

The nice thing about this type of insurance is that you get to choose the amount of coverage that is right for you. What I mean is this; if you have assets or income that you don't mind using toward this nee,d you could buy a smaller policy as a safety net under your assets to share in the expense. Or you can buy a policy large enough to hopefully cover the entire expense, but it is entirely up to you. Today, there is more than one type of policy design to provide for long-term care needs. There is a traditional type of policy where you have a monthly amount available for a certain period.

There are life insurance policies that can be liquidated monthly to pay for long term care expenses until the policy has been exhausted, or pay a death benefit if long term care is never needed. there are hybrid policies here you can deposit a single amount of money to purchase a large leverage amount of coverage dollars. And there are joint-life policies that can cover both spouses under one contract and provide a lifetime limited benefit to both, or a death benefit if both parties pass away without needing care. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages and it is beyond the scope of this document to tell you which is the best option for you.

To figure out which type of approach, what level of benefits, and what fits your budget best so that you can have the best plan designed for you your agent must sit down with you. I represent the major companies that offer long term care insurance today, and I have all the options mentioned above available, but I have to be able to talk to you about your concerns, your family, and your budget to guide you to your right answer. My contact information appears below. I would love the opportunity to work with you towards an answer that fits.

There is much more information that you need to have before you make your decisions,

but hopefully, this will help you see the scope of the problem. Let me close with this comment, most people don't think about this; you need reasonable good health to purchase long-term care insurance Certain conditions will make it impossible to purchase a plan regardless of your budget. What I'm trying to caution you against is waiting too long.

Take this time to schedule an appointment