Choosing Long Term Care Insurance

Long term care insurance pays for care in institutions like skilled nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day care centers... as well as for professional home health care.

Generally, benefits are paid when the patient is unable to perform 2 of 6 activities of daily living listed below without substantial assistance from another person:

• Bathing
• Dressing
• Continence
• Toileting
• Transferring
• Eating

Another way to become eligible for long term care insurance benefits is if the person is inflicted with Alzheimer's disease or any one of several medically recognized cognitive impairments.

Neither Medicare nor Medigap insurance pays for long term nursing home or home health care.  The very definition of long term care presumes it to be extended (if not permanent) in nature.

The legal provisions of Medicare presume recovery as a result of skilled nursing care versus the never-ending reality of custodial assistance.

There is an exception to this rule provided the elder's physician has prescribed home health services and the Medicare recipient is homebound.

It entitles the elder to up to 35 hours a week of free skilled nursing, home health aide services and skilled therapy services.  Everything must be documented by the physician as reasonable and medically necessary.

The cost of providing long term care is outrageous. Tragically, the expense could go on for the rest of your life.

There are three ways to pay for it.

1. Deplete your hard-earned assets --- or those of your family
2. Get on Medicaid welfare and become a ward of the state
3. Use personally owned long term care insurance benefits

Of course, you could always impose on someone who cares enough to be your private nurse for free.

Perhaps your friend ... or your child ... or your spouse would like to volunteer. Obviously, this is something you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy let alone a member of your family.

People sometimes believe a long term care policy is feasible only if 100% of the care can be paid by the policy benefit.

Although this may seem ideal, most of the time it isn’t practical.

The best approach is to buy a policy that is designed to fit your budget ... or the budget of those who would be adversely affected by your need for care.

There's nothing wrong with letting adult children share the premium with parents considering the cost of providing long term care might well jeopardize the family’s financial situation.

Even those with considerable wealth should buy long term care insurance provided, of course, that they qualify.

After all... why on earth would you willingly waste your hard-earned savings when you can transfer a major portion of the risk over to an insurance company?

For example, single premium policies are available that provide you with a:

• money back guarantee
• guaranteed minimum interest rate
• competitive current interest rate
• tax-deferred interest accrual
• tax-free death benefit
• tax-free long term care benefit

If the single premium policy isn’t doable, you can budget your out-of-pocket expense by creating a more traditional plan with a monthly premium.

Do you own a business? You might consider having it pay for your long term care policy. It may be deductible as an expense item with no income tax liability to you personally.

Long term care insurance will:

1. Help preserve your personal self-esteem and independence
2. Provide emotional and financial peace of mind to your family

Will you begin to waste away your precious assets?

Or, will you use the predetermined benefit from a policy issued by a stable insurance company.

Will you slowly destroy the spirit and strength of your loved ones?

Or, will you take steps now to guarantee they'll be able to provide affordable long term care for you without depleting their own private resources?

Use this link if you wish to return from Long Term Care Insurance to the long term care main page.