Navigating Long-Term Care Insurance Policies
Long-term care (LTC) services assist an adult with day-to-day living to help them remain as independent as possible. These services may become necessary at any age: an older adult may need LTC services as daily life becomes increasingly difficult; a younger person might need assistance following a disabling event or accident; and anyone may need LTC services as a chronic illness progresses or during a period of rehabilitation. Most people, however, do not start thinking about long-term care until the services are needed.
LTC service costs are not covered by medical insurance or Medi-Care (designed primarily to provide access to a basic level of healthcare) and, without proper planning, can be debilitating for a family’s funds and estate plans. LTC insurance, for those who can afford it, provides a method of payment or reimbursement for services. Depending on the policy and coverage selected, LTC insurance can cover LTC in your own home, adult day care centers, residential care facilities, and nursing homes. However, navigating the plans and options available can be a challenge for most people.
There are several online resources that can assist in the consideration of long-term care insurance. The Wall Street Journal created a checklist to assist in the evaluation of a policy’s features. This tool can be used to compare policies before making a final decision on different options. MetLife, whose LTC insurance is not currently available in California, created an educational guide that defines terminology generally used in the industry, presents basic issues, and provides answers to some frequently asked questions.
Without LTC insurance, self-insurance (setting aside enough money to pay privately for potential future LTC services) becomes exponentially more important. If you are interested in learning more about creating a comprehensive plan to ensure that you or your family members are well-prepared to handle your needs and estate near the end of life, please contact the experienced estate planning attorneys at Lonich Patton Ehrlich Policastri for further information. Please remember that each individual situation is unique and results discussed in this post are not a guarantee of future results. While this post may include legal issues, it is not legal advice. Use of this site does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Most people overestimate the cost of a good long-term care policy. A healthy, married couple in their mid/late fifties, can share a policy that starts off with over a half million in benefits for about $100 per month per spouse.
There’s a new type of government-approved long-term care policy that can protect your assets from Medicaid even after the policy runs out of benefits. Here’s an explanation of how these policies work:
http://bit.ly/How-Partnership-Policies-Protect-Assets