Tag Archives: long term care insurance california

What is Long-Term Care Insurance? Find out more about your options in California

Traditional Long-Term Care Insurance

Traditional Long-Term Care Insurance used to be viewed as “nursing home insurance” because most policies from 15 years ago only offered that one option. Today, that is hardly the case.  Long-term care insurance now covers adult day care, in-home care, assisted living, and nursing home care. These policies are considered comprehensive in nature. Now we refer to long-term care insurance as “lifestyle insurance”.

Who CAN’T Get Long-Term Care Insurance?

 

Underwriting Explained

When you apply for a Long-Term Care Insurance plan, you must go through underwriting. Underwriting means that the company will check your medical records to determine what medical problems you may currently have, or have had in the past. They want to know your overall health history. If you have been diagnosed with short-term memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, or if you have had a stroke with permanent physical impairment, you may not qualify. People who have survived cancer and are treatment free for a certain length of time can often qualify. Each insurance company has their own underwriting guidelines. It is best to talk to your agent, or call the company directly with any specific questions about health issues. Height and weight are also a consideration when applying. Sometimes the insurance company will send a registered nurse to the home to ask a few questions, and take some more medical history, or they may just call on the phone for a brief interview.

Qualifying to USE the Benefits of a Long-Term Care Insurance Plan

 

Activities of Daily Living

When it’s time to use your tax qualified Long-Term Care Insurance plan (taxes to be discussed in a later chapter), the insured person must need help or substantial assistance with 2 out of 6 activities of daily living for a period of 90 days or greater. This need for care must be certified by a licensed healthcare practitioner such as a nurse or physician.

These activities of daily living include:

Bathing

Dressing

Eating

Toileting

Continence

Transferring (i.e. moving from the bed to a chair)

Or, the insured must have a cognitive impairment, like Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. A cognitive impairment means that although a person may be physically able to perform all of the activities listed above, they cannot remember or rationalize how to do those activities. One example would be bathing. Sometimes people with dementia are physically able to take a bath, but can’t remember to do so, or can’t remember why this is important. Or, perhaps when getting dressed, they put on five shirts instead of one.

 

Comprehensive vs. Facility Only Plans

 

Comprehensive Plans

A comprehensive plan covers all aspects of long-term care: in-home care, adult day care, assisted living, and nursing home care. These plans are designed to help people stay at home longer, and also assist them with transitions to other levels of care as needed. Most consumers want to stay at home for as long as possible. A comprehensive plan will satisfy that desire.

Facility Only Coverage

Facility only plans are still available on the market today. Facility only plans pay for just that, facility care only. Usually this includes assisted living and nursing home care. A facility only plan makes the most sense for folks who do not have a large network of family and friends around them, and for people who know that this may be their only option in the future.  Facility only plans are less costly than comprehensive plans, but again, offer payment only for nursing home and assisted living care. The insured person cannot live at home and use the benefits of a facility only plan.

 

Benefit Period

The benefit period is the length of time the policy will actually pay for care. There are many different benefit periods available including 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years, 7 years, 10 years, and unlimited lifetime coverage. When purchasing long-term care insurance, keep in mind that premiums are paid for potentially the next 20 years (or until the policy holder needs care), but the plan will only last about as long as the benefit period originally selected.

People often ask, “How do I know which benefit period to choose?” “How do I know how long I might need care?”

Obviously, there is no way to really determine how long a person might need care. However, the best advice is for each individual to take a look at their own personal health history, and their family history.  If there is a history of chronic disease such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, MS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, it might be worthwhile to consider a longer benefit period.

Visit us at www.californialongtermcare.com with any questions, and for more information on obtaining Long-Term Care Insurance in California.

The Facts Are Clear About Long Term Care Insurance in California

The Facts Are Clear About Long Term Care Insurance

Anyone with even a passing experience with Alzheimer’s, stroke, Parkinson’s or elder frailty can appreciate the severity and financial devastation of these all-too-common life events and the inevitable care required.

This is why we want protection.

  • The average Ancient Greek lived until age 18. The median life span of a Puritan was 33. The average American  life expectancy is now about 75 years for men, 84 for women. Over half of Americans will spend part of these these extended years in long term care situations.
  • By 2030, one in five Americans will be a senior citizen. If you are a Baby Boomer, this includes you.  Americans are living longer and healthier, thanks to better diet, better medical care and safer living & working environments. Yet no one is immune to the effects of aging and longevity – effects that often result in reduced physical or mental ability.
  • In 1994, 7.3 million Americans needed long term care (LTC) services at an average cost of nearly $43,800 per year. By 2000, this number rose to 9 million Americans at nearly $55,750 per year. It’s currently near $75,000 per year. By 2030 those needing LTC will skyrocket to 23+ million Americans, with projected, individual long term care costs reaching $300,000 annually per individual!

Will you have that kind of money to spare?

With a history of millions of Americans in care situations living with longevity, elder frailty, stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Spinal Cord Injury, Cerebral Palsy, accidents and other conditions that affect 50+% of folks over age 65 , we can testify to the need for mature thinking and adult decisions when it comes to long term care planning.

If you are planning ahead and need more information on Long Term Care Insurance, please visit www.californialongtermcare.com.

Buying Long Term Care Insurance in California

BUYING INSURANCE
By Thomas Day

Why Should You Buy Long-Term Care Insurance?

1. It will help you keep your independence and dignity. Here’s how. . . some of you will spend all your assets on care while others plan to give their money away or put it in trust. With no assets you will now qualify for a welfare program called Medicaid. Medicaid typically pays for a semiprivate room in a nursing home, and; not all nursing homes take Medicaid patients. In many states it’s not easy to get Medicaid to cover home care or pay for assisted living. Many people want to stay at home, but with Medicaid may not be able to. And assisted living is rapidly becoming a preferred alternative to nursing home care for certain disabilities but Medicaid may insist on a nursing home instead.

A nursing home is not the most desirable place to finish out one’s life. For many, a terminal stay in a nursing facility robs them of a purpose in life and strips away their dignity. As an example, have you ever thought of the indignity of being bathed, toiletted or diapered in a nursing home environment? No wonder many people express the desire to die before ever having to go into a nursing home.

For some conditions a nursing home is the only alternative, but for many long-term care patients there are more options than nursing homes. A good long term-care insurance policy covers those options and when all else fails, it pays for nursing homes too.

2. If you are married and you have a need for long-term care, your spouse may be forced to pay for an outside care giver. The cost is likely to come from your combined income and assets. If the need for paid care drags on too long, your spouse may be left with minimal cash assets for future needs. Insurance solves this problem and allows your spouse to keep the assets.


Continue reading…

Visit www.californialongtermcare.com for more information regarding Long Term Care Insurance in California.

In California, Why Buy Long-Term Care Insurance?

BUYING INSURANCE
By Thomas Day
Original Content HERE

Why Should You Buy Long-Term Care Insurance?
1. It will help you keep your independence and dignity. Here’s how. . . some of you will spend all your assets on care while others plan to give their money away or put it in trust. With no assets you will now qualify for a welfare program called Medicaid. Medicaid typically pays for a semiprivate room in a nursing home, and; not all nursing homes take Medicaid patients. In many states it’s not easy to get Medicaid to cover home care or pay for assisted living. Many people want to stay at home, but with Medicaid may not be able to. And assisted living is rapidly becoming a preferred alternative to nursing home care for certain disabilities but Medicaid may insist on a nursing home instead.

A nursing home is not the most desirable place to finish out one’s life. For many, a terminal stay in a nursing facility robs them of a purpose in life and strips away their dignity. As an example, have you ever thought of the indignity of being bathed, toiletted or diapered in a nursing home environment? No wonder many people express the desire to die before ever having to go into a nursing home.

For some conditions a nursing home is the only alternative, but for many long-term care patients there are more options than nursing homes. A good long term-care insurance policy covers those options and when all else fails, it pays for nursing homes too.

2. If you are married and you have a need for long-term care, your spouse may be forced to pay for an outside care giver. The cost is likely to come from your combined income and assets. If the need for paid care drags on too long, your spouse may be left with minimal cash assets for future needs. Insurance solves this problem and allows your spouse to keep the assets.

3. Many healthy care-giving spouses won’t spend their money and choose to “tough it out” on their own without help. If care of a disabled spouse drags on too long, this can have a devastating effect on the physical and emotion health of the caregiver. Surveys reveal that even though healthy caregivers often don’t spend their money for help, they will use insurance if available. Insurance allows the healthy caregiver to buy much-needed respite from paid professionals, while at the same time, retaining the assets and possibly avoiding an early death from the mental and physical stress of caregiving.

4. If your children or extended family promise to take care of you when the time comes, insurance will help them do that. Probably you nor your children have thought of the prospects of moving you from place to place, changing your dirty diapers, cleaning up after “accidents” in the bathroom or helping you with bathing and dressing. Insurance will pay for aides to help with these tasks.

5. If you are single and a need for long-term care arises, insurance can pay for and coordinate that care. With insurance you won’t have to feel you would be a burden for family or friends.

6. If you have the desire to leave assets behind when you die, insurance will help preserve those assets from the cost of long term care.

Why Not Buy This Insurance When You’re Older?
1. Don’t forget that 43% of those needing long term care are under age 65. You may need it now.

2. Roughly every two years insurance companies come out with new policies. Although these policies contain many new benefits and features, they are also more expensive for new people signing up than the previous policy. Estimates are, because of this rate creep, new applicants for long-term care insurance are paying about 5% more each year than applicants at the same age would be paying with older policies. At this rate of increase, ten years from now, a policy for a 50 year old would cost 50% more than an equivalent policy for a 50 year old would cost today.

3. To get long term care insurance you must answer questions relating to your health. If you wait, you may develop a condition that would prevent you from obtaining coverage.

4. The cost of coverage increases with age. For younger ages you can get a rate that is relatively inexpensive. At older ages the rate becomes very expensive.

5. It costs less, over time, buying now than buying equivalent coverage in the future. The 20 year total cost of buying now is less than the 19 year total cost of buying next year, or the 18 year cost of the next year, and so on.

Why Not Invest the Premiums Instead of Buying Insurance?
The invested amount of premiums over 20 years, may be only 5% to 12% of the potential insurance benefit. A 6 year insurance benefit may only yield ½ year of long term care if the premiums are invested instead. Besides, if you invested premiums, where would the money come from if you needed long term care next year or even 5 or 10 years from now? The saved premium account wouldn’t have time to grow.

Why Waste Money on Insurance if You Have Assets to Cover the Cost Directly?
The same question could be asked of auto, home owner’s or medical insurance. Why not self-insure there as well? You could just as easily pay your medical bills from your pocket. Or pay for damage to your cars and loss of your home out-of-pocket and possibly save a lot of money over time? No matter what the risk, the total cost of premiums over a long period is usually a fraction of the cost of paying a claim from your own pocket. The purpose we buy insurance is to preserve assets by leveraging premiums to buy a benefit at pennies on the dollar instead of paying dollar-for-dollar out-of-pocket for a loss. The probability of a house fire is 1 in 1200, of having a major auto accident is 1 in 240 and of needing long term care is 1 in 2 . With a much higher probability doesn’t long term care insurance make as much sense as buying those other coverages?

Why Don’t You Get Your Money Back if You Don’t Use the Insurance?
This question always begs the underlying reason for it’s being asked. In essence the person with this concern is thinking, “it won’t happen to me, so it’s a waste of money”. To play to this objection, many carriers design policies with cash values, life insurance death benefits or return of premium at death. But these features increase premium cost and sometimes make coverage unaffordable. The same question could be asked of all insurance. Why don’t we get a refund with term life, health, disability, commercial lines, auto, or homeowners insurance? People seem to take it in stride, paying $80,000 for auto insurance or $20,000 for homeowners insurance over their lifetime. Then when they make a claim, if they ever do, they get their coverage canceled or more likely their rates are increased to cover the cost of the claim. Yet, out of denial or ignorance they can’t see why they should pay $40,000 over their lifetime for long-term care insurance where the probability for a claim is higher and the risk of loss is 4 to 10 times higher than the risk of loss with a car or home.

If you would like more information regarding Long Term Care Insurance, please visit us at  www.californialongtermcare.com.