Help Secure Your Financial Future
- November 29, 2018
With Long Term Care Insurance
One of the biggest risks to your retirement is a long-term care event. At least 70% of people over age 65 will require some form of long term care services. Have you done the proper planning to protect your assets?
Americans are living longer, and saving during their working years to accumulate enough wealth to comfortably maintain their lifestyle in retirement. Don’t let unexpected costs from a healthcare event interrupt your retirement objectives.
Long term care insurance covers more than just nursing homes. It can cover
- Care in your home such as skilled nursing care, occupational, physical or other forms of therapy and help with in-home personal care
- Assisted living facilities, Alzheimer’s care facilities, adult day care centers, hospice, and respite care centers
- Home modifications such as wheelchair ramps and grab bars
Long term care insurance can help protect your assets in the event you cannot safely care for yourself. It is designed to cover long term care services and support in a variety of settings such as your home, a nursing home or other facility.
It also may provide confidence that you or loved ones will be able to afford the help that might have been provided by family or friends in years past.
There are a variety of options to consider
For an individual with substantial retirement income and assets, self-insurance may be an option. Most individuals and families are not in a position to self-insure.
Medicare will only pay for the first 20 days of skilled nursing care after a minimum three-day stay in the hospital. Although Medicaid, a state welfare program partially funded by the federal government, may eventually pay for a nursing home (or other similar facility) and other long-term care expenses, to qualify, the patient must spend down assets almost completely.
LTCI is designed to help cover the costs of long-term care to help protect assets and assure more choices for the types and quality of care. Typically, long-term care premiums are paid over the lifetime of the insured. However, some policies offer limited-pay premiums where the policy is paid up after 10 years or by age 65.
Another option that provides some financial assistance is a life insurance policy with an LTCI benefits rider that will accelerate the death benefit and also provide additional monies to pay for LTC services. Some of these policies accept a one-time lump-sum payment, paying for a specific number of years (short pay) or paying over the insured’s lifetime.
Article Disclosures
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