How To Get 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.