What is Long Term Care?
What is Long Term Care? (what LTC Insurance covers)
We find one of the biggest barriers to someone choosing Long Term Care Insurance is the fact that it is a complicated product! There are lots of factors to understand, to feel comfortable with the need for coverage, then be able to customize the plan to fit your needs. We can help in explaining Long Term Care Insurance in simple terms.
First, note that “Long Term Care” is a distinct, separate thing from “Long Term Care Insurance.”
Long Term Care is not insurance, it is a kind of care for your needs, if required. There are actually two types of care:
Acute Care
Acute Care is what you receive at the hospital, or doctor’s office, or emergency room or urgent care… short-term, active treatment by medical professionals (physicians, nurses, physician associates, etc.) to diagnose and treat your illness or injury.
Acute Care is covered by health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare Supplement or Medicare Advantage coverage
Long Term Care
Long Term Care is both medical and non-medical care received in a variety of locations (your home, assisted living facility, nursing home). This custodial care focuses more on helping someone with daily life and care (“activities of daily living”) as an injury, illness or cognitive impairment prevents them from performing them by themselves.
Long Term Care is covered by Long Term Care Insurance.
Understand the Term “Activities of Daily Living”
A term to understand when learning about long term care and Long Term Care Insurance is “Activities of Daily Living” (or “ADLs”). ADLs are just those ordinary activities we all perform each day which are the basics of self-care.
bathing
eating
dressing
maintaining continence
toileting
transferring (in and out of bed or sofa)
We need to be able to perform each of these 6 tasks each day, without help, in order to live an independent life. And most of us do. But if you cannot do so because an injury or illness prevents you, or maybe a cognitive impairment prevents you, you need help, or long term care. Care provided by a nurse, other professional, or even a family member.
There are also a secondary set of tasks, called “instrumental activities of daily living” (“IADLs”) that people who require assistance with ADLs might also need help with. Examples are preparing meals, housework, taking medicine, traveling locally, shopping, managing finances, and using the telephone. They are not essential for living independently, but they make one’s quality of life much richer.
The “Activities of Daily Living” are what insurance companies that offer Long Term Care Insurance use as “triggers” for who qualifies under the insurance policy for helping to pay for the costs of long term care. Usually the threshold is two… if you cannot perform at least two of the activities of daily living, as observed and certified by your own physician, then you are eligible for benefits under the policy, or payments toward that long term care you receive.
And activities of daily living, and the IADLs, are exactly what that Long Term Care Insurance policy is helping to pay for, for you to be able to perform these basic, everyday life tasks, with the help of another, a professional or family member, in your own home, or some other facility.
Vernon and Helen’s Long Term Care Insurance Story
Long Term Care Insurance allowed Vernon the flexibility, and the funds, to care for his wife of 60 years, Helen, in their home after an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis.
When Vernon Duckett first heard about Long Term Care Insurance he wasn’t enthusiastic, but his wife, Helen, talked him into purchasing it.
Recently retired from the oil business, Vernon, then 65, was healthy and vigorous. Helen, a year older at 66 was too. But Helen did not want to be a burden on their son, Jeff, or anyone else.
Working with their insurance professional, Phyllis Shelton, they bought Long Term Care Insurance policies.
Later, when policies with better features became available, the Ducketts upgraded their Long Term Care Insurance coverage. The new policies offered excellent coverage for home care and had inflation riders that increased their coverage annually to help keep pace with the rising cost of care.
When Helen was in her mid-70s, she began having difficulty with everyday household chores, such as using the microwave oven. A visit to the doctor confirmed that these were symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Vernon cared for Helen in their home primarily, and the LTC policy gave him the freedom to drop her off at an adult daycare center for five or six hours a day. After Vernon suffered his second heart attack in five years and could no longer handle her care, he placed her at one of the nicest private nursing homes in the area, where she stayed until her death at age 82.
Today, Vernon is 84 and healthy enough to play golf twice a week. He calls long-term care insurance a “blessing” because it allowed him to afford the best care possible for his childhood sweetheart, to whom he was married for more than 60 years. “This long-term care policy has given me peace of mind, security and Long-term care insurance gives you the option of independence,” he says.
Free LTC (Long Term Care) Insurance Quote and Information
Complete the below form (designed to take you 2-3 minutes) and submit below. We'll send you a free quote of long term care insurance coverage tailored to your coverage needs! You may also call us for a quote, or with your questions, (919) 357-6637.
Along with a quote of LTC insurance coverage we will send you this informative brochure entitled "What You Need to Know About Long Term Care Insurance."
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