Probing into Long Term Care Insurance

If you feel pressured to buy a long term care insurance (LTCI) policy, that is a good sign as it only goes to show that you are concerned about your future. If you don’t feel the need to have one, perhaps you should start preparing yourself for a future with no choices. For every year without an LTCI policy, you only increase your chances of paying out more money for long term care (LTC). Now don’t ask: Who says I’m going to need long term care? To counter that, who says you’re not going to? Here are some facts to ponder on: • Baby boomers and the younger generations are expected to live longer, perhaps to 95 or even to 100. • Living longer makes one more susceptible to geriatric diseases. • Alzheimer’s disease is very common among aging folks and those who have acquired it are currently spending $9,000 a month, some even more! • If you rely on Medicaid later on, you can’t choose where to receive care. • Medicare does not cover custodial care which is about providing assistance to an individual who can’t perform the activities of daily living (ADLs) on his own. There are six ADLs and these are eating, dressing, bathing, toileting, continence, and transferring or walking. • You don’t have to acquire an illness to require LTC. Once you cannot perform any of the ADLs for a period of three months or more, you are definitely a candidate for LTC. Is Long Term Care Insurance Your Only Salvation? Frankly speaking, yes it is. There may be other ways to prepare for LTC such as reverse mortgage, annuities, retirement savings, and pension plans among others. Unfortunately, these options don’t guarantee to protect your personal resources. Say if you’re over the age of 65 and you decide to opt for a reverse mortgage, don’t expect to have anything to pass on to your heirs later on because when you die your home will go directly to the money lender. Now it’s the same with retirement savings. In fact, relying on your retirement money is even worse because if you outlive your resources, and chances are you will, Medicaid will be your only resort. What’s going to be very painful is the thought of your family continuing their lives in misery because there’s not a single penny left to spend for their everyday needs. According to financial advisors, unless you are expecting to receive $2,000,000 upon retirement it is not advisable to bank on your assets to cover your future health care needs. First of all, the cost of care is increasing incessantly so if you are looking at 20 years before acquiring care, today’s LTC costs will be totally passé by then. Perhaps the average annual rate in a nursing home by 2031 will be $311,000 as a big jump in the cost of care is projected 20 years from now. The only way to be prepared for it is by keeping pace with inflation and this is only possible with a long term care insurance policy. Study your options now while you’re young and financially able.