Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:41 am Post subject: Long term care insurance age
I'm in my forties. I've not considered enrolling for the long term care insurance earlier. My questioning is-am I too late for the long term care insurance coverage? What does it actually cover? _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
You are not late yet; rather I would say that you have inquired at the right time. But like life insurance the premium rate is directly related to your age, younger you are lower is your premium and vice-versa. Therefore, you will be charged according to your age. However, it is always preferable to apply for the plan when you are in good health. It will enhance your chances to get qualified for the plan.
If you would come across any long term care insurance information, you would be amazed to see how the Long term care benefits amount to a wide range of services for people who suffer from prolonged illnesses, cognitive diseases, disabilities or too old to take care of themselves and require external help to perform their daily activities. It normally covers-
Nursing home care or skilled care
Custodial care
Adult Day care
Home health care
Hope this information will help you to some extent. Take care
Yes right, one should consider purchasing the long term care insurance if he/she wants to safeguard his/her savings from paying for the long term care bills. But like other insurance policies, LTC insurance also comes with various carriers. Therefore, you need to analyze your needs and requirements before signing for one.
Moreover, LTC also qualifies for tax deductions. According to the latest IRS report- at your age you may qualify for a tax deduction of $550.
Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:11 am Post subject: LTC coverage
Hello Petersen,
Long term care insurance (LTC) is a good move not only for you but also for your family, because it also extends coverages to the spouse, children, and parents of the policy holder. Therefore, it is never too late to safeguard the interest of your family. Juanita has rightly mentioned the conditions that LTC normally covers. However, there are few exclusions too. Typically, LTC will not cover –mental illnesses (excluding Alzheimer), alcohol or drug abuses and disability caused by self-inflicted injuries.
Anyways, one need to be careful while choosing the coverage required. You can either opt for comprehensive policy or can choose non-comprehensive policy. Non-comprehensive policy restricts its benefits only to nursing home care while comprehensive policy covers nursing home care as well as custodial care and adult day care also. The amount payable for daily facility benefits may vary between $100 and $250.
Well, it seems that no-one has responded to this thread for a long time. Hence, I'm taking the opportunity, why?
Because I think its a good topic to discuss about as the question of financing for the long term care has become important in our lives.
One may pose a question that when I may qualify for the Medicare plan in my later age, why should I invest in the LTC plan? I'd like to know from the community about their opinion regarding the purchase of an elderly care plan.
Thanks,
Hybrid-ozone _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
Hi Hybrid-ozone, you have asked a very basic question. Though the choice to purchase one particular policy rests entirely upon the consumer and his/her requirements, the popularity of the long term care plan has certainly increased in the recent time.
The reasons,
Steady increase in the cost of health care.
More and more people are living past the age of 65 and may require long term nursing home care.
The qualifying criteria for Medicare have become more stringent over the time and less and less people are now qualifying for it.
Medicare plan doesn't address to all the expenses that one may incur during the prolonged medical care.
These are some of the reasons why one should consider investing in the LTC plan. Just hang tight; the other members will shortly be around with their ideas. So long mate
Medicare plan doesn't address to all the expenses that one may incur during the prolonged medical care.
In fact, it pays only for a shot term care in the nursing homes. Also, you can avail Medicare benefits only for the skilled care (ie services offered by the nursing professionals). A long term care plan also looks after this issue.
In certain circumstances, one may decide (or need) for the care of their near-n-dear ones, instead of professional care-takers, at their homes. The Medicare plan falls short of addressing such issue, whereas you can receive benefits for such arrangements also under the long term care plan.
Nice to see that someone is trying to revive this discussion. It is certainly of importance.
As I understand it most States have budget shorfalls for Medicaid and have cut back on LTC spending. This is why there is a tax incentive to get a long term care plan. As the baby boomers age the pressure on the Long Term Care centres will only increase. I think there will be a big gap between quality LTC homes and the others.
Do you think the medicare situation is going to get better or worse? If you don't know - which sceario seems most likely?
Long Term Care Insurance provides money so that you have more choices when you need care. You can maintain your dignity later in life.
And back to the original question. 40 is not too late to buy LTCI. In fact, many people wait until they are in their 50's or 60's. The 40's is probably the best time as you will save money.
Best Regards _________________ I am an insurance broker from Ontario licensed for all types of insurance.
Hi all, it's wonderful to know so much about the long term care plans. However, just curious, does the long term care plan cover the expenses concerning prolonged disability? _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
Hi Mathew, I wud like to throw some light upon the fine difference between long term care plan and disability plan. the long term care plan unlike most of the disability plan doesn't cover the loss of income during the period of disability, neither does it cover the expenses of treatment, instead it pays for the assistance that you may need to perform your regular works in case you're unable to perform yourself. It'll pay for both skilled and unskilled assistance.
if you need helps to perform your Activities of Daily Living or the ADLs, you may receive the benefits under the long term care plan.
The importance of long term care insurance coverage has grown with time, mainly because of the rising costs of health care facilities. Studies have shown that the average cost of hospitalisation in America for a year may cost around $50,000 annually. Long term care policy not only covers expenses for nursing home care , but also pays for day care expenses, hospice care and assisted-living at home.
We normally neglect planning for our old age but the statistic shoes that in coming days every one out of two senior Americans may need elderly care protection.
Regards,
Dorothy _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
Hi all, sorry to butt-in to this wonderful discussion on long term insurance, but I'm of the impression that long term care plans often don't offer what they promises to. Also, the cost of premium is beyond the reach of many salaried household.
I'd like to know, who exactly can afford the LTC plans. and, how to find a cheap LTC plan?
Thanks to all _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
Hi ruddy-goody, your butting in is perfectly alright. I think you have asked a very useful question, ‘do the long term care plans always offer what they promise?' it has remained an issue of discussions for quite sometime now.
The longterm plans though ideal for the population nearing their retirement age, may not be the right option for young professionals. That is because,
Saving for the retirement may remain first on their priority list
Life insurance should come second, since it'll replace the income in case of his/her pre-matured death.
Investing on disability income plan may be a wiser choice, as long term plans don't have this benefit incorporated in it. Also the probability of suffering disability during their working age is higher for the young adults.
Hence, IMO, one can postpone buying the LTC before the right age.
One can put forward the argument that purchasing the LTC policy at the early age will save money on behalf of the customer, while this is true, the customer also is losing in terms of opportunity cost at the same time.
Also, very few of the young customers continue paying for the coverage for the entire term. Many allow their policies to lapse during this period and thus lose out both coverage and their investment.
