Long Term Care Insurance

• Families Need to Plan for Long-Term Care — The bills are staggering -- they average $25,000 annually for home care and $50,000 per year for nursing homes. And financial resources often are limited -- Medicare doesn't pay for long-term care.
• Insurance for Extended Care Key — If you were to suffer an illness or disability that required long-term nursing care, would you be covered? Probably not. The vast majority of Americans go through their lives reassuring themselves that it will never happen to them. However, if past trends continue, 43 percent of those aged 65 may spend some time in a nursing home during their lifetimes. Of that 43 percent, the average person may stay in a nursing home for 2.5 years! And 21 percent can expect to stay 5 years or more.
• Insurance for Protracted Care — Many Americans are woefully uninformed about the costs and funding sources associated with long-term care. A national survey undertaken on behalf of the AARP recently found that only 15 percent of respondents aged 45 and older could estimate the costs within 20 percent of the national average. Furthermore, more than half of those surveyed mistakenly believe that Medicare will pay for long-term care.
• Insuring Against Prolonged Care Costs — Life expectancies are growing longer, and the risk of entering a nursing home after age 65 is now as high as 49 percent. The national average cost for nursing-home care is about $56,000 per year. By 2010, the cost is projected to grow to $90,000.
• Long-Term-Treatment Insurance — After a lifetime of accumulating money for a comfortable retirement, it would be a bitter pill to swallow if your plans were dashed because you or your spouse incurred high nursing-care bills. Yet the risk is real. If you believe that paying $148,000 per year for nursing-home care (the estimated cost in 2020) would be difficult or maybe even impossible, consider these options.
• Maximize the Money when Planning Long-Term Care — My bank advised me to buy an annuity or put money in a floating-rate fund since we cannot tie up her money or risk it in any way. What would you advise and is there a downside to either choice?
• Medicaid Annuities - Affordable Long-Term-Care Insurance? — Ending up in a nursing home is a frightening thought. What worries most people is the fact that all of their assets will go to the nursing home rather than their loved ones.
• Protracted Care Insurance Important — A study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicates that people aged 65 face a 43 percent lifetime risk of entering a nursing home. About 21 percent may stay there five years or longer. According to the AARP, the average cost of this care is $56,000 per year. The odds that you will need some kind of long-term care increase as you age.
• Questions to Ask About a Long-Term Care Policy — What happens to the policy when she runs out of funds to pay the additional daily rate? Does this policy disqualify her for Medicaid? Would she be better off to dump it, pay for nursing care until she depletes her savings, then go onto Medicaid?
• Request Long Term Care Insurance Quotes — We make shopping for LTC Insurance simple. Our experienced LTC agent is ready to answer all of your LTC questions. Just fill out our form and our Long Term Care Insurance agent will contact you today!
• Risks of Ignoring Potential Extended-Care Costs — Fifty percent of Americans worry that they won't have enough money to pay for long-term care in retirement — yet only 18 percent have seriously considered buying long-term-care (LTC) insurance.
• Term or Permanent Life Insurance — When should I buy permanent insurance instead of, or in combination with, a term life policy?
• The Rising Appeal (and Falling Cost) of Term Insurance — When it comes to life's priorities, protecting one's family falls in the priceless category. And because of increased competition, the actual price for term life insurance has dropped by half in a decade.