Getting Long-Term Care Insurance
How do I get long-term care insurance?
You have to apply for long-term care insurance. Long-term care insurance is one type of insurance that has to be done through an agent. The federal government is really very concerned that seniors (who typically are the ones that are going to be covered under these policies) are protected. They want someone who's licensed to go meet with that person, so when I do meet with the person, I ask them several questions; we do an interview and we talk about all kinds of things. When the client ultimately decides that they want to buy the insurance we fill out an application. Typically there's no medical exam required for qualifying for long-term insurance, but if the person is over age seventy the insurance company often will send a personal interviewer to the person's house, and they'll ask questions like, "Use the word 'balloon' in a sentence." The person will say "the balloon is on my table." Then they'll say, "Make it a little more exciting," and they'll say, "Well, the yellow balloon flew off my table and went up into the air." The interviewer will say, "That's a very good sentence. I'm going to ask you about that sentence in a few minutes after I ask you several questions. I want to see if you remember the colour of the balloon and what you just said." They'll ask you questions like to count 2, 4, 6, and then 8. They'll ask you all kinds of questions about your health. Then they'll come back to that question: "A minute ago, I was talking to you and I asked you questions about something and you made a sentence. Do you remember what it was?" If you forget, you're not going to qualify for long-term care insurance. So, as people get older, the insurance companies are really careful about who qualifies for this insurance because they know that some people look good on the outside but they're not so good on the inside.
If I have pre-existing health problems, can I get long-term care insurance?
Can I buy a long-term care insurance policy for someone else?
Someone can pay the premiums on someone else's insurance policy, but ultimately the person who is being insured has to sign the application, answer all the medical questions, and qualify for the insurance. Then, if you are a fortunate individual to have a son or daughter or someone else in your family who wants you covered and they are willing to pay the premium and its an absolute essential thing, why not do it? In many circumstances, businesses pay for the premiums for long term care insurance. It's a very popular perk. As an example, I had a CPA firm recently, they have about 1 CPAs and another 6 or 7 office staff, the owner of the CPA firm said that he wants long term insurance on all his partners and his employees and we put in a group plan. The employer is paying 1% of the premium of the insurance. It's a perk to retain the employee that stay at the company and it's also something to attract new employees to the company.
How does a change in my family status affect my long-term case insurance?
The change in family status does not normally change anything about your long-term care insurance with the exception of: When a husband and wife both apply for a long-term care insurance policy at the same time, the insurance company is so happy that they'll usually give both of them a 25 percent discount on the premium. Many times the insurance company will say, "This is the premium for one of you alone, but if both of you apply, we'll give you a 25 percent discount." The insurance companies give a discount because they're getting two people in one sitting, they're underwriting two people, they're getting more business. It's an efficient way of marketing; they figure they might as well pass on the savings to the client.
