Types of Arizona Long Term Care Coverage

My fellow blogger and long term care specialist Beatrixxx Lewis of http://longtermcaretalk.wordpress.com/ has shared another informative long term care post, particularly in the state of Arizona. Find time to read it to further enrich your knowledge in long term care insurance, its costs, policy types and benefits. 

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Long Term Care Insurance: Costs and Benefits

The very thought of long-term care can send shivers down most people’s spines. Whether it is the constantly increasing long term care costs, or even just the idea of being in an assisted living home, there is not much to look forward to when it comes to long term care.

With that said, the harsh reality is that more than sixty percent of people will, at one point in their life, need the assistance of long term care after turning sixty-five. Forty percent of those that currently receive long-term care are between the ages of eighteen and sixty-four. Because long term care costs are essentially inevitable for the average person, it is important that one evaluate long term care insurance rates, and consider the various ways and means that they can go about reducing their long term care insurance cost.

Long term care insurance premiums are on the rise, as insurance companies struggle to pay for the long term care costs of those living longer than expected. While long term care insurance premiums won’t increase by as much as insurance companies would like, most people with coverage can expect their long term care insurance cost to increase by as much as fifteen percent year-over-year. For those living on retirement, or a limited income, such increases in long term care insurance cost can be prohibiting. Fortunately, there are some very effective ways in which one can reduce their long term care insurance cost.

Shop Around

Perhaps the easiest and most effective way to cut your long term care insurance cost is to shop around the various providers. Before committing to any kind of long term care policy provider, it would be wise to check the long term care quotes of a variety of different companies. While the difference in the long term care insurance premiums won’t be overly significant, you will be able to reduce your long term care costs by shopping around and looking for better deals.

Plan Ahead

One of the best ways to reduce your long term care insurance cost is to plan ahead. Most people don’t think about long term care costs until they are older, and costs are higher. Planning ahead could involve researching family medical history, buying long term care insurance at a younger age, and also considering tax benefits involved with long term care insurance plans. By buying younger, you’ll be able to reduce your long term care insurance cost by paying premiums now and avoiding increases to long term care insurance rates that may take place in the future. While tax benefits won’t necessarily reduce your long term care insurance premiums, they may be able to help you get back more money from taxes and thus reduce your overall out of pocket costs. Lastly, it is possible to reduce your long term care insurance cost by knowing the medical history of your family. Provided there are no instances of Alzheimer’s or similar medical conditions in your family, you may not need to pay the long term care costs associated with a lifetime plan.

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Long Term Care Annuities

In the next few minutes you will learn about a new insurance industry product that provides long term care insurance coverage if you ever need it, but requires no policy, premiums or health qualifications.

Why Seniors Don't Buy Long Term Care

1. In my experience, over half the people who shun long term care planning do so because they feel they will never need it. It is difficult to visualize going to a nursing home. Statistically, half of these people will be right.

However, there are a number of scenarios where the person may need some kind of assistance but never see the front door of a nursing home. In fact, most people who need long term care can receive care without ever leaving their home.

When you stop and think about it, the decision not to buy long term care insurance is a decision to self insure. This can be costly and possibly devastating.

The average cost of a nursing home today is $80,000 per year and rising. At that rate, it doesn't take but a few years to grind through a modest estate. If both the husband and wife need nursing home care, the time to dissipate an estate is cut in half.

A person can spend 40 years in a career building a retirement nest egg. They spend another 40+ years conservatively managing their money while trying to keep up with inflation. If they need to go into a nursing home during the last five years of their life, it all could be gone quickly.

It doesn't have to be that way as you will soon see.

2. Many people think long term care insurance is too expensive. They may be right.

If a person waits too long to apply, they may have sticker shock. The rates are based on age.

However, long term care comes with a lot of bells and whistles. When you strip away some of the options that may be nice to have, but not essential, the premium is a lot lower.

If a person looks at a plan that covers home health care only, the premium is lower yet. This takes care of the 50% who never will need to go into a nursing home.

The only thing better is coverage without a premium, which I will get to in a minute.

3. Most people react to a problem only when the problem surfaces. If a person waits to apply for long term care insurance until they are experiencing health problems, any long term care insurance plan may be prohibitively expensive or altogether unavailable.

The Solution: The Long Term Care Insurance That is Not a Policy

The insurance industry is very competitive. This very competition engenders new thinking and creative policies. Enter "Long Term Care Annuities."

There are only a few companies offering this product and the structure differs from company to company. To give you a general overview of the concept and mechanics, I am going to describe the main aspects of one carrier's contract. Check with your financial planner for all the options.

The underlying base of an "LTC annuity" is an annuity. Nothing new here; annuities have been around for a hundred years. They are safe, the funds accrue at a competitive interest rate, and the account grows tax-deferred.

To form an LTC annuity, the insurance company has built in a "long term care option." It is not a rider. There is no premium. It is simply an option you elect if long term care is ever needed. Sweet.

To qualify, a person only needs to lose two of six ADLs (activities of daily living). ADLs are insurance companies' method of determining the qualification for levels of care. They are eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring (walking) and continence.

The person doesn't have to be in a nursing home. They simply need to have demonstrated the inability to perform two of the six ADLs to qualify to put the long term care option in their annuity in action.

An Example

If a male, age 60, places $200,000 into an LTC annuity, assuming a conservative interest rate, the policy would grow to $300,000 in ten years. If the $300,000 were converted into a life income, the person would receive $2,200 per month for the balance of their life. An 8.8% return. Not too bad, considering it is guaranteed no matter what.

If this person needs long term care at age 70 by virtue of losing two of six ADLs and elected the long term care option, the life income would jump to $4,500 a month.

Conclusion

These new products, long term care annuities, provide the option to receive long term care benefits only if they are needed. There is no separate long term care insurance policy, no premiums and generally little or no underwriting.

Now there are no excuses. Those who feel they will never need long term care will simply never exercise their LTC option. Those who find long term care too expensive have an alternative with no premiums. Moreover, those who have health issues can obtain long term care benefits, as underwriting is simplified or non-existent.

Robert D. Cavanaugh, CLU is a 36-year financial and estate planning veteran and author of the free newsletter, "The Estate Preservation Advisor". For cutting-edge, easy-to-understand financial planning resources and techniques to increase your income, reduce taxes and preserve your estate and to claim the free video, "How to Sell Your Life Insurance Policy for More than the Cash Value", go to http://theestatepreservationadvisor.com/rd/subscribe.htm

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Long Term Care Insurance Association Study Examines Largest Claims

The largest open long term care insurance claim has reached $1.7 million in paid benefits, according to a just-released report from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. The claimant, a woman, purchased coverage at age 43, paying an annual premium of $881. Three years later her long term care insurance claim began and has continued for almost 15 years. [Note: Payment of policy premiums ceases when an individual is receiving policy benefits.]

"Insurers paid some $6.6 billion in benefits to roughly 200,000 individuals last year,” explains Jesse Slome, Executive Director of the industry trade group that compiled the data from 10 leading long term care insurers. "Long-term care insurance claims can last for years and amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The association annually collects data on claims including the largest open claims (still being paid as of December 31, 2011). The second largest claim still open is for a male who purchased his long-term care insurance policy paying an annual premium of $3,374. Three years later his claim began and has continued for just over six years ($1. 2 million in benefits has already been paid for his care).

“Long-term care insurance is not the lottery,” Slome says. “A policy holder who paid $3,000 in premiums and received benefits exceeding $1.5 million is not a winner. But having this protection in place can certainly pay off and for thousands of Americans it increasingly is." According to the Association, just over 8 million Americans currently have some form of long-term care insurance protection in place.

One in 10 (10.4%) of new individual claims initiated during 2011 began before the claimant was age 70 the study revealed. "While most long-term care insurance claims begin at older ages, typically in ones late 70s or 80s, accidents and illnesses are also a common reason younger people need this care for extended periods," Slome notes. The five most common reasons for a long-term care insurance claim, according to the Association, are Alzheimer's disease, stroke, arthritis, circulatory issues or injury."

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Types of Care Covered by Medicare

The public should know that there are only certain kinds of care that the Medicare can cover and knowing these types can help them decide if they should buy their own insurance or still depend on whatever assistance Medicare could give them.

1. Home Health Care.

If a doctor suggests that you need short-term skilled care because of a minor injury or disease, then Medicare can pay for the medical workers that will be assigned to take care of your needs but the benefit coverage will still be limited, which is usually only less than 35 hours a week.

2. Skilled Nursing Facility Care. 

Medicare can pay for a maximum of 100 days of receiving skilled nursing care after a three-day hospital stay. However, the coverage ends when the person does not need any treatment regardless if the coverage was shorter than 100 days.

3. Hospice. 

Hospice care is covered by Medicare as long as a doctor certifies that the individual has a terminal illness and will have not more than six months to live.

The question is, will Medicare pay for your long term care? Do not take useless risks and start taking responsibility for your LTC needs. Since it covers just certain portions of the medical requirements of a person, it is still a better idea to avail a private LTC insurance policy that has wider scope and longer benefit coverage period.

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Are You Too Old To Find These Jokes Funny?

Any grumpy senior citizen will most likely tell you, age is no laughing matter. Scientific findings may have revealed why. People lose their sense of humour as they get older.

Calling for the findings not to be taken lightly, many scientists argue that the ability to enjoy and laugh at jokes is linked to an array of health benefits. Laughter is known to be good for the heart, boosting circulation as much as exercise or cholesterol-lowering medicines.

Now ask yourself - are you too old to find these jokes funny?

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Long Term Care Insurance Career Center Launched

An online Career Success Center has been established to attract individuals to a full or part-time career selling long-term care insurance. Launched today by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, the Center aims to provide valuable information to those looking for a new career opportunity or those seeking a means of earning additional income.

“Selling long-term care insurance provides people with the opportunity to help individuals and their families and, at the same time, earn what can be a significant income,” explains Jesse Slome, AALTCI’s executive director. The Association created the online center as the result of increasing inquiries from individuals interested in learning more about career and sales opportunities.

According to AALTCI, over 1,000 people purchase long term care plans on a daily basis. “The need for this protection is growing and sales would be higher if there were more skilled people available to market the product to individuals and employer groups,” Slome admits. “The new center will provide meaningful but balanced information that will enable people to evaluate and decide if this is something they should pursue.”

The initial online center initially features a variety of audios addressing getting started in the business through what your first year should look like. “We also provide sales and marketing information for insurance professionals who have unsuccessfully tipped a toe into the pool but wish to learn how to be successful,” Slome adds. The organization plans to expand the center over time to address critical aspects for career success including the long-term care insurance industry’s first national job postings bulletin board.

Access to the online center is free of charge at http://www.aaltci.org/sell. Established in 1998, the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance is the national trade organization exclusively focused on creating heightened consumer awareness and supporting insurance professionals who market long-term care solutions.

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Securing Your Future With LTC Insurance

Most Americans are not totally against to paying for most types of insurance. However, although they see the need for long term care insurance, once they get long term care quotes and see how much a policy costs, they immediately hesitate on buying a plan. The question is, should the cost of an LTCi policy be a deterrent? The answer is, no!

Based on the study conducted by the U.S. Administration of Aging, members of the baby boomer generation have more than 70% chance of needing some form of long term care in the future. This is a reality that everybody should address.

LTC specialists and the government itself have been constantly reminding everyone to come up with a plan to secure their health care needs because the price tags of LTC services are expected to rise in the succeeding years.

Many Americans are discouraged from opting for Medicaid in their plan as this government-funded insurance program is going to deplete its funds very soon if its long term care spending will not stop from escalating. Last year, Medicaid covered at least 49% of the nationwide long term care expenditures.

Take note that Medicaid has limitations on the amount of assets a person may own and the amount of income a person can acquire per month before they are eligible. Eligiblity and LTC services vary from state to state.

Given this, people should not just rely on Medicaid, if you want to avoid ending up like many elderly folks who are now being forced to leave nursing facilities just so the government can cut down on LTC expenses.

Securing your future with long term care insurance guarantees you'll have the necessary care you need when you need it most in the future.

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Options Available For Long-Term Care

Depending on the person's needs and health conditions, there are various options available for long term care. Below are some common types of care and their definitions:

1. In-home care

Nursing or personal aides come into a person's home (or that of a loved one) to provide assistance with self-care (like personal grooming, bathing and administering medications) and daily activities (like housekeeping, meal preparation, grocery shopping and bill paying)

2. Adult day programs

Social programs providing on-site exercise, enrichment and medical care at a central location

3. Retirement communities

Apartments or condos provided specifically for elderly people who have need for some on-site services like some meals, transportation, activities and housekeeping assistance

4. Assisted living facilities

Designed for those senior citizens who need slightly more day-to-day assistance than that offered in a retirement community, including help with medication administration, personal grooming (bathing, dressing and toileting), basic medical care (like regular blood pressure or glucose checks) and socialization

5. Nursing homes

Round-the-clock care and supervision for those whose illness or injuries prevent them from living independently or those who need end-of-life assistance; nursing homes provide for both personal and medical needs of residents, and most offer higher-level medical services like physical therapy, laboratory testing and assistance with ventilators, catheters and colostomy bags

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Nursing Home Care Costs & Inflation

Long term care (LTC) expenses in the United States continue to escalate at a rate much faster than inflation in basic necessities such as food or clothing. Year after year, the cost of nursing home care in the country keeps on rising. At present, the annual cost ranges between US$50,000 to US$100,000. In the state of New York, the average nursing home cost reaches to US$90,000 per year.

According to LTC experts, nursing home care costs are likely to double in 15 years if the present growth rate in nursing home costs persists.

Source: planaheadny.com

Given the limitations of Medicare, Medicare, and traditional health insurance plans, the option for most people is long-term care insurance (LTCI). As a means of protection, there's a specific clause in long term care plans called "inflation protection." It is a type of benefit that increases the daily benefit amount over time to keep pace with inflation and the rising cost of LTC expenditures.

Although you are not required to buy inflation protection, it is a very essential protection for policyholders who might not require long term care for so many years. One of the main features of inflation protection is that it will increase the premium on a policy. Since the costs of long term care services continue to get costly, it would be wise to consider the protection offered by this benefit. An LTC policy without an inflation protection may be of little value 10 to 20 years from the time of purchase.

Indeed, long-term care insurance is a valuable means of protecting your financial independence against the event of costly long-term care in the future. Financial experts today recommend LTCI as a key element of any retirement plans. If you plan to purchase a policy, start by requesting long term care quotes from different reputable providers then compare them to know which one best suits your preferences.

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The Odds of Needing Long Term Care Insurance

None of us can predict what's gonna happen in the future, so we can't know for sure if we will ever need long term care. However, the longer you live, the higher your chances become for needing extended care.

So what exactly are your odds of needing long term care insurance and spending time in a nursing facility? Here are what various studies have to say:

According to Wall Street Journal, for a couple turning 65 years old, there is a 70% chance that one of them will require long-term care.

As the generation of baby boomers get older, the number keeps rising. Experts say that 65% of people over 75 need long term care.

On the other hand, a research conducted by The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys reveals that 20% of all people 65 years old and above need assistance in performing their normal activities of daily living such as bathing, eating, etc.

At age 85, the estimate grows to about 50%. The worst case scenario with regard to financial strain involves spending time a nursing home which can be very expensive.

The odds of a person needing Long Term Care in a nursing facility at various ages are as follows:

45 or older: 36%
65 or older: 49%
85 or older: 56%

These statistics can be concerning, specifically for people who have not planned what they will do to address the high costs of long-term care. So if you want to make the right decision, talk to a financial advisor or agent on how you can get the right long term care plans with the lowest possible insurance premiums.

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Taking Advantage of Partnership Long Term Care Plans

In order to address the increasing demand and need for long term care insurance, the government, together with private insurance providers, has initiated and implemented an initiative known as the Partnership long term care insurance (LTCI). What exactly is this?

Partnership LTCI is a government program in accordance to the Deficit Reduction Act of (DRA) of 2005 which was ratified in 2006. The provisions of this law affect various facets of health and insurance-related programs, including the benefits people get from Medicaid and Medicare. DRA also mandates all the states in the country to come up with cost-effective alternatives that will meet the financial capabilities of the Americans when it comes to long term care.

By having partnership with private insurers, the government hopes to make long term care plans much more affordable, allowing more people to afford them. It is also some kind of a vehicle through which states can encourage consumers to take responsibility for their own long-term care needs and costs. In this way, the government will be able to reduce the pressure on the budgets of state-funded Medicaid.

Despite being cheaper, Partnership LTCI provides similar benefits as that of private long term care insurance. Likewise, a policyholder must be able to get three mandatory features, which include:

(1) minimum daily benefit amount

(2) inflation protection

3) benefit coverage period

Among these three features, the inflation protection is considered to be the most essential factor. This is because inflation protection will adjust a plan’s actual value based on the current costs of LTC services.

The younger you buy a long term care policy, the better your chances of getting higher levels of inflation protection.

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Long-Term Care Medicine

I recently stumbled upon this book and I'd like to recommend it to everyone!

Long-Term Care Medicine: A Pocket Guide is an informative, practical and easy-to-read book for everyone who needs extended care and for all health professionals such as nurses, caregivers, etc. The book's contents are intended to improve the clinical care and quality of life of residents in a long-term care facility. It is worth mentioning that it's written by health experts in long term care medicine.

Below is the book's summary:

Long-Term Care Medicine: A Pocket Guide lessens the uncertainty involved in caring for patients in a long-term care facility. This practical pocket guide is divided into four sections: Introduction, Common Clinical Conditions, Psychosocial Aspects, and Special Issues in Long-Term Care.

The chapters address all the varied components of the LTC system as well as how to take care of the patients and residents living within it. The contributors to this easy-to-read guide are passionate about LTC and many have worked within the American Medical Directors Association to create and disseminate a knowledge base for practitioners.

Long-Term Care Medicine: A Pocket Guide is an invaluable resource for clinicians, practitioners, and educators who are seeking to optimize the care and living experience of residents in LTC by providing resident-centered care as well as resident choice, well-being, dignity, and an improved quality of life.

Hope you find it helpful!

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Different Types of Long-Term Care

Many people don't fully understand the different options in long term care plans and their respective features. That's why I compile some of the common types of long term care and their descriptions. Read on...

1. Home Care

This type of long-term care is provided in the patient's home. The care can range from help with activities like shopping to nursing care. There is also short-term, skilled home care covered by Medicare which is known as "home health care."

2. Adult Day Care

Adult day care services offer a wide range of social, health, and related support services in a protective setting during the day. This can help senior people with impairments—such as dementia, Alzheimer's disease and others—continue to live comfortably in the community.

3. Assisted Living

Assisted living provides 24 hours, 7 days a week supervision, assistance, meals, and health care services in a home-like setting. Care services include help with Activities of Daily Living (ADL) such as eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, etc.

4. Nursing Home Care

If a patient chooses to stay in a nursing home, she/he will get skilled nursing care, rehabilitation services, meals,and help with daily living. Nursing homes also provide temporary or periodic care.

Long term care insurance can really help people plan for their future care needs. It is a good investment to secure the necessary healthcare during prime years with lesser worries on draining financial assets and with lesser dependence on limited government-funded programs such as Medicare or Medicaid.

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Requesting Long Term Care Quotes Online

Negotiating for insurance policies online is common nowadays says my friend. However normal it is, she reminded me to exercise caution in giving away my personal information because there are many frauds that are just out to use people’s info for their own benefit.

She told me that non obligation LTCI quotes are supposed to be free and if anybody charges me with a fee, all I have to do is report him or her to the state’s insurance commissioner.

To avoid falling victim to a fraud, I was advised to conduct a background check on each potential LTCI agency so I would know if it has any negative records. If it turns out to be trustworthy, I can proceed with my LTCI quote request.

Requesting LTCI quotes is the fastest and easiest way to determine which long term care insurance (LTCI) policy is right for you. Each insurance company has its own underwriting so what may be unacceptable in one may be considered in another. Some companies offer their policies at extremely high prices while others present more reasonable figures.

As the cost of care continues to increase, all of us are advised to purchase an LTCI policy after having compared four to five long term care quotes from renowned LTCI providers. Only by comparing can we be able to determine which type of LTCI policy can provide us the best coverage in the future.

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Long Term Care Quotes: How to Obtain Them Online?

I must confess my obsession with gathering information online. Since the birth of the Internet it seems that I have completely severed my relationship with my television, plus I have also ended my subscription of the daily newspaper. For 10 years I was like that until I needed long term care quotes.

Not for myself though I could benefit from it in the long run, too. I was thinking of purchasing a long term care insurance (LTCI) policy for my folks since they are not getting any younger. Dad is 53 while Mom is 52. I learned from a close friend who recently availed a comprehensive policy from one of the leading LTCI carriers in the country that if I want my parents to grow old in comfort, I should initiate a plan for them because they won’t do it themselves.

Her tales of senior citizens over the age of 70 who have gone broke due to the cost of care really saddened me and I realized right I couldn’t stand my parents going through the same thing.

 My friend’s stories, indeed, affected me because she and Mom are almost of the same age. Perhaps, she’s younger by two or three years only but she decided to secure an LTCI policy earlier because she’s not married and she doesn’t have kids.

So, I took the initiative to research about the nature of LTCI and the benefits that one can receive from it. According to my friend, before buying her policy she went to seek advice from the Department of Insurance because she was initially clueless about LTCI companies and agencies. She was given a list of companies that are licensed to operate and sell LTCI policies in the state, which she used in her online research.

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How Much Long-Term Care Coverage Do You Need?

Have you ever foreseen an event before its actual occurrence? We all experience prophetic powers occasionally, but was there a time that you tried to envision yourself receiving long term care (LTC) and your efforts just turned futile?

Anything that concerns our health seems to be the hardest to deal with. Perhaps the reason behind it is the fact that in our subconscious mind we refuse to accept the reality of growing old and needing others to be able to perform the most basic activities of daily living.

Who wants to grow old, anyway? I don’t. However, there’s a very thin line between refusal and neglect. You can choose not to like something but still work on it for your own good, or deliberately not do anything at all. Just don’t act surprised if your action backfires on you.

Investing in long term care plans is absolutely different from buying a residential property or a new car. Some people I know say planning for LTC is like chasing death or anticipating the end. It’s actually the opposite.

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services today’s men and women are living longer. If that’s the case, why not grab the opportunity to live beyond your 100th year and have your name appear on the Guinness World Records?

Now, for that to happen you have to acknowledge first that you will require some form of care someday because nobody grows old and manages to maintain the strength and agility of a 12-year-old. As a person gets older his bones gradually become weaker and brittle causing functional limitations.

Once you’ve accepted this as a possibility in your life you can start planning your long term care coverage. See, you don’t even have to imagine acquiring a geriatric disease because LTC is basically not about providing medical care only. It’s for anybody who can no longer perform the activities of daily living (ADL) which are eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, continence, and transferring from one part of the house to another.

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Long Term Care Plans and Protecting Your Financial Future

All of us will get old and weak. In the USA, more and more people are requiring long term care, and the government will likely have a hard time supporting them through Medicare or Medicaid. It is safe to say that everybody should have long term care plans in order to protect themselves financially in the future.

Based on statistics, half of all American elders, 65 years old and above, will require long term care anywhere in their lifetime. Over the next 18 years, it is estimated that 80 million Americans will turn 50. By the year 2050, the number of individuals using long-term care services will double.

If you’re not worried about your financial future, better think again! Should everybody really get long term care insurance? The answer is generally, YES!

Government-funded support such as Medicaid is enough to pay for all the services related to long-term care, such as expenses for nursing or adult day care. In most occasions, senior citizens are the ones who require long-term care as they are more prone to prolonged diseases. However, individuals with chronic illness or injury may also need some form of assistance. The truth of the matter is – long term care isn’t only for the elderly. Anyone, regardless of their age, may require extended care at any time.

The older you are, the more costly your premiums become. Those with poor health conditions may also be denied coverage, so it’s recommended to get this type of insurance policy before retiring or when you’re still sound and healthy. To make the right decision, talk to a financial advisor who can make recommendations about how much long-term care may be needed, compare long term care quotes, what type of care you want, the possible cost of it, and how much to expect from government benefits.

Working with an insurance professional can help you plan your future needs so you can focus your time and effort on what's really essential– enjoying life with peace of mind!

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Long Term Care Plans That Allow More Savings

People can’t help but associate long term care plans with big expenditures especially if they are thinking about long term care insurance (LTCI) policies.

Can’t blame them for feeling that way since a bunch of articles about LTCI premium rates abound on the Internet and thus making average families feel that they are not financially equipped to buy a policy; this despite their belief that it is only through this type of insurance product that one can acquire quality care without depleting his resources.

Perhaps with more positive information about LTCI policies there will be more people who will feel inspired to invest their hard earned money into LTCI.

I am an avid follower of write ups that delve into LTCI primarily because I have a grandmother living oceans apart and she’s currently receiving in-home care. Although she’s been confined in the hospital a few times, it never got to the point that she had to leave her home for a nursing facility.

She’s a widow living alone in her apartment in Los Angeles so I couldn’t help but worry about her safety. Every day, a caregiver comes in to provide her with assistance in bathing, dressing, and moving about the house.

It was only two years ago that my grandmother started receiving the benefits from her policy even though she’s been getting long term care for three years now. According to her, she and my grandfather conscientiously looked at different long term care plans before agreeing on a policy with a 365-elimination period. And why not? They were as strong as an ox at the time they purchased their policy and they’ve managed to strengthen their nest egg through the years.

In fact, had my grandfather not been hit by a car and undergone head surgery which he did not survive, he would probably be in charge of taking care of my grandmother now as she’s suffering from diabetes. Aside from opting for a one-year elimination period, my grandfather and grandmother have also managed to receive 50% spousal discount so they only paid close to $900 on annual premiums.

Best of all, my grandfather was a mathematician so before requesting long term care insurance quotes 17 years ago he went around their neighborhood and scouted for rates of nursing homes and calculated their costs 20 years later. That was all he did even though he had a feeling that neither of them would need nursing home care. His reason behind that is if you can afford the annual rate of a nursing home’s private room you can afford other LTC settings, as well.

Although my grandmother did not discount the help which was extended to them by their insurance agent, she said it was my grandfather who did most of the research on long term care plans and calculation of the benefits that they would need. Simply put, his goal to grow old and die with dignity drove him to secure an LTCI policy, which, eventually kept its promise of financial soundness.

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How Expensive is Long Term Care?

Expenses related to long term care are generally expensive.

On average, the cost of nursing home care in the United States can range anywhere from 150$ to 300$ on a daily basis, which amounts to $80,000 per year.

On the other hand, the custodial home care expenditures can reach to more than 9,000$ per year. To address these financial issues, it is advised by many to get long-term care insurance. It is the type of insurance that will provide coverage for expenses related to long-term health care that are not normally covered by traditional health insurance.

Since buying long term care insurance is an expensive investment, you better do your homework first before getting a policy. Make sure the insurance provider you choose is financially stable and will be around when you need it in the future. It's a good idea to request different long term care quotes from various insurance companies. Reading customer reviews and ratings from various online resources is also recommended.

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