Long Term Care Insurance
Understanding the Need for Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance
Long Term Care (frequently shortened to “LTC”) insurance is coverage that provides monies to help pay for your care at home, in assisted living, adult daycare, or in a nursing home if you suffer from a disabling condition (a chronic medical or cognitive condition) that requires you to be under constant supervision.
Without Long Term Care insurance people must utilize their personal savings, retirement savings and Social Security benefits to pay for needed care. This can deplete individuals or families’ life savings. In that case Medicaid (the Federal / State
program that helps pay for medical expenses for Americans with limited financial resources) steps in to pay for long term care. But Medicaid usually only pays for long term care in a nursing home the agency chooses.
Purchasing Long Term Care insurance not only helps you pay for long term care, it allows you to make the decisions about your care. With a strong LTC insurance policy you get to decide if care will be offered to you in your own home (either professional care or family help), in an assisted living facility, or if needed, a nursing home.
Who Needs Long Term Care Insurance?
Anyone could experience a medical or cognitive issue in the future, and thus need long term care long term care in the future.
Concentrating on people turning 65: Sixty-nine percent (69%) will need long term care at some point in their lifetimes. Men experience the need fifty-eight percent (58%) of the time, and the percentage for women is much higher, at seventy-nine percent (79%). In our work we see the need for individuals and couples in these three broad categories with the most need for LTC Insurance:
Individuals and couples who, if paying out of pocket for long term care, would suffer a loss of most of their retirement savings.
Most of us are working to fund our family budget and put aside monies for our retirement years. Contributing to our retirement savings account now will fund our daily expenses after we retire.
But it is tough to save monies to fully fund all of the “what if” scenarios in our retirement years.
Purchasing Long Term Care Insurance is a way to fully or partially fund the cost of long term care if needed, so that our family budget in retirement can continue without a loss to quality of life for our spouse or partner.
Individuals and couples who feel they can self-insure, but would rather their life savings go to their family and other interests.
Some individuals and families feel their net worth would allow them to “self-insure” the cost of long term care if one or both spouses needed care. Especially long term care of a short duration.
But what if long term care was needed for many years? Year after year of paying those costs can erode anyone’s assets.
Purchasing Long Term Care Insurance is a way to prevent this scenario, ensuring those assets are given to your spouse, children, grandchildren, a charity, etc. instead of to costs for your care.
Individuals and couples who are business owners, entrepreneurs, self-employed, consultants, 1099 employee, etc.
Business owners have no choice but to live the “do it yourself” mantra, as all the financial decisions of their family and business rest on them.
The “busyness” of business ownership means there is little time to think of protecting yourself in the future (that time is usually spent how to care for your business and your employees!).
Purchasing Long Term Care Insurance is an important step in ensuring business owners will be able to enjoy the fruits of their labors in retirement, without worry about how to pay for long term care.
Theresa and Joe’s Long Term Care Insurance Story
Business owners Joe and Theresa purchased Long Term Care Insurance. Just 6 months later, Joe suffered a stroke. LTC Insurance has allowed Theresa to care for Joe in their home.
The first time that James Daoust, Jr. visited his clients, Joe and Theresa Mollicone, the couple rolled out a tray of cannolis. James became their insurance professional and over the next three decades sampled countless Italian specialties in the couple’s home. “He got hooked on Italian desserts,” Theresa says.
Their close relationship is the reason the Mollicone’s are living comfortably today instead of struggling after a health crisis.
In the early years, James had helped the Mollicones with retirement plans as well as life, disability and health insurance, all of which they had to address on their own because each was self-employed. Joe owned an excavation business, and Theresa ran a clothing boutique.
As Joe approached his 65th birthday and his disability insurance was about to expire, James suggested Long Term Care Insurance. The Mollicones were initially hesitant,
but neither wanted to be a burden to the other or to their two adult children, so they purchased policies.
Less than six months later, Joe suffered a massive stroke that left him paralyzed on the right side and unable to speak. Three months after the stroke, the long-term care insurance policy started paying the maximum daily benefit and has been just enough to cover the cost of caring for Joe in their home.
Four years later Joe reached his payout limit, but continues to receive benefits because of his policy’s shared-care rider, which allows him to tap into the benefits from Theresa’s policy. To date, the insurance company has paid out more than $400,000 in benefits.
“If we didn’t have this insurance, caring for Joe would have depleted all the savings we had,” Theresa says. “Now I’m not afraid of running out of money.”
“Those turning 65 today have a nearly 70 percent chance of needing some type of long-term care services as they age, and 20 percent will need it for longer than five years.” -Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Free Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance Quote and Information
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