What is Long-Term Care Insurance?

Long-Term Care Insurance, not to be confused with disability insurance, offers people a financial safety net
designed to cover a wide range of long-term care services.  If you are unable to care for yourself because of prolonged illness or disability, long-term care insurance may pay for the kind of services you need.  Such services may include help with activities of daily living, home health care, respite care, adult day care, care in a nursing home or care in an assisted living facility. 

Reasons People Buy:

• Asset Preservation: Most people would prefer to leave their hard earned assets to their children, grandchildren or favorite charity rather than spend it on long-term care services.
• Famliy: Many want to ensure the financial security of a surviving spouse or protect against becoming
  a physical or financial burden to children.
• Quality of Care: Many people do not want to rely on the Medicaid/Welfare system to provide care.  They do not want to lose their independence or choice of who cares for them and how and where that care is provided.
• Financial Safety Net: People want to ensure that the necessary funds will be available no matter how long care is needed.

What Are the Options When Choosing A Policy? Think Cash!

Choice is what we’re about at LTCi Advisors, Inc., and we offer the easiest and most beneficial policies available.  Our favorite is what we call the NEW GENERATION of long-term care policies, otherwise known as a cash benefit.  With the usual policy, you must first incur the expense of long-term care in order to be reimbursed by the insurance provider.  A NEW GENERATION policy offers you CASH deposited into your bank account upon doctor’s notice, after your deductible period, that you can’t perform two of the six activities of daily living. 

• Bathing
• Continence
• Dressing
• Eating
• Toileting
• Transferring
• Or Cognitive Impairment (ex. Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc.)

That’s it.  No strings attached no exclusions and no restrictions.  Spend the cash as you like, on the quality of services you prefer. 

Other Things to Remember: 

• Some federal and/or state income tax advantages are available to people who buy certain long-term care insurance policies.
• You can pay for LTC insurance premiums with your HSA account.
• Medicare does not pay for most long term care.  Medicaid will generally only pay for long-term care if you have very little income and few assets.

Checklist When Buying Long-Term Care Insurance:

1. Educate – We will cover everything involved in long-term care insurance and make sure you understand everything involved.  Feel confident in your understanding of the coverage and options available to you.
2. Family – Discuss your plans with family to consider what level of care can or cannot be provided and determine what level of insurance is best.
3. Options – Policies can be molded to each individual to best suit one’s needs.  From aggressive inflation protection to shared benefits, you have a choice.
4. Cost – Sometimes the least expensive plan is not the wisest choice because coverage can then be limited or provide few options.  Consider the long term impact of each policy and its offerings.
5. Just Right – Buy only what you need and consider the average rates of care in your area.  We can research the average costs of home health care, assisted care and nursing home care in you area to find the best level of coverage.
6. Buy When You Are Young – Rates for insurance are based on your age when you first buy coverage.  The younger you buy, the lower the price – and it can be dramatic!
7. Inflation – Be sure your plan benefits are protected from inflation so that they are adequate to meet your future needs.  All of our plans over various levels of inflation protection.

Consider These Statistics:

• Baby boomers are expected to live longer than any preceding generation and could place high demands on family caregivers.
• Having long-term care insurance allows disabled elders to remain in their homes and delay or avoid using institutional services.
• Disabled elders with private long-term care insurance receive an average of 14 more hours of personal care per week than similarly disabled non-privately insured elders.
• Having a long-term care insurance policy reduces by 66 percent a person’s chances of having to spend his or her assets to pay for nursing home care to the point of impoverishment and Medicaid eligibility.
• Working age family caregivers double their chances of remaining in the workforce if the disabled elder they are caring for has private long-term care insurance.  These caregivers also experience significantly fewer work disruptions and social stresses.
• There's about a 50 percent chance you'll need some type of long-term care after age 65. And long-term care services are not just for older people. A young or middle-aged person who has been in an accident or suffered a debilitating illness may very well require long-term care services. In fact, 40 percent of patients receiving long-term care are under age 65.

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