Long-Term Care Insurance
What is long-term care insurance?
Long-term care insurance is becoming increasingly popular nowadays and probably a good idea that it is. It is a type of insurance that will cover long-term care services, both in an institutional setting and also in most cases, in a home setting for people who have the need. That would be typically people who require assistance with at least three of their activities of daily living. Different policies are written in different ways and the younger you are when you buy it the better of a deal it is.
What does long-term care insurance cover?
Long-term care insurance typically would cover, either care in a variety of institutional settings from skilled nursing to a regular non-skilled custodial nursing facility, and assisted living. And in many cases it also would cover in-home assistance from a caregiver in your own home or in an independent senior living setting.
At what age should I consider long-term care insurance?
As far as a personal decision of whether and when to purchase long-term care insurance, part of it has to do with your financial assets. If you have a lot of assets, it's probably worth buying it. The earlier you buy it, the less expensive it is, although the price will continue to rise as you age. If you're a person who does not anticipate having a lot of assets when you hit retirement age or when you get to the point of chronic illness, then it's probably not worth considering, because you'll most likely qualify for Medicaid. With Medicaid, you're probably going to be in a nursing facility, whereas there's a lot more flexibility with long-term care insurance. There are tax benefits to long-term care insurance, and those may be expanded over the next several years as we baby boomers are increasingly getting into that long-term care age group.
What should I look for in a good long-term care insurance policy?
As far as what you need to look for in a long-term care policy, I would look at the time period at which the benefits actually kick in, and the degree of impairment you have to have, or just how ill or disabled you have to be, in order to actually get the benefit. If you have to be essentially bed bound to get the benefits, then that may not be a good value for you. Where as, if you are at a point where you need some assistance with some of your activities and daily living, you are more likely to be able to use those services for a lot longer period of time.
