Who Should Buy Long-term Care Insurance?

The Department of Health and Human Services reports that about 70% of people who turn 65 will need some form of long-term care at some point in their lives.

A separate data from the AARP reveals that the average cost for a nursing home stay is $88,000 per year in 2012, while a home health aide averaged $19,000 for three visits a week.

With these numbers, it’s not difficult to see how one can quickly and completely deplete a lifetime of savings. Therefore, it makes sense to include LTC insurance in one’s retirement plan. However, this type of insurance is not for everyone.

Who Should Buy Long-term Care Insurance?

People who want to protect their assets and avoid losing their life savings to illness or disability

Someone who doesn’t want to become a burden to his or her family and want to get the care they need when they need it

People who are over 50, but ideally the earlier you buy coverage, the better

A midlevel income person who either has too little savings to afford long-term care services, or has too much to qualify for public health care assistance

Long-term care insurance is a way to protect your savings and assets from the rising costs of long-term care and it is also a way to make sure that you do not become a burden to your kids. It does these two things by:

Offsetting out-of-the pocket expenses of patients and family members

Paying for home care, respite care, rehabilitation and therapy, stays at an adult day care, nursing home, or assisted living facility

Other ancillary expenses such as home modification for the disabled, additional ramps for a wheelchair, railings for a staircase, etc.

The most ideal strategy is to buy a policy early in one’s life. Just like with any other insurance, you can’t buy it when you need it and premiums become higher the older a person gets. Most people consider buying LTC insurance in their mid-to-late 50s.

Example: *Based on a report published by Forbes magazine

For people who fall somewhere in the midlevel income, LTC insurance can be an effective way to cushion oneself from future long-term care expenses. Basically, mid-income earners have too little savings to afford long-term care for even just a few years, and too much in order to be eligible for Medicaid assistance.

There are many LTC insurance policies that offer a varying degree of security for the

insured. If a person can afford to buy more coverage then he or she should go for it. If not, some coverage is still better than none.

To know more about who should buy long-term care insurance, go to http://www.completelongtermcare.com.

Coverage

Age

Premiums

$200 a day policy for

three years

45 $100 per month

65

$200 per month(with a greater chance of being

rejected for coverage due to some pre-existing health

condition)