FREE Guide: A Shopper’s Guide to Long Term Care Insurance
Important! Take time to review this informative Shopper’s Guide to Long Term Care Insurance from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
- Better understand long-term care insurance and get help deciding which, if any, policy to consider buying.
- Learn key terms and more about what long-term care really is.
- Learn about long-term care costs and who pays for them.
- Learn factors that help determine if and when you’ll need long-term care.
- Click here for your FREE Guide!
Long Term Care Insurance in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Long term care insurance is coverage that helps protect against the cost of extended care in later life.
It helps cover expenses due to long term illness or disability that are not typically covered by health insurance.
Such expenses may include costs for services like, home care, adult day care, respite care, hospice care, custodial care, Alzheimer’s care, long term nursing care and, in some cases, modifications to a home to accommodate disabilities.
If you were sick or elderly and couldn’t take care of yourself, who would drop everything they were doing to take care of you?
Would it be a spouse? A partner? A dear friend? An adult child?
Whoever it would be – it is someone who cares about you deeply.
Without a plan for the possibility of extended or “long term” care – even if you never believe you will need such care – it is this person who has the most to lose!
The biggest risk with long term care is the impact it can have on loved ones.
Your closest loved ones are the people a long term care insurance policy really protects.
If you’re like most people, you started a family because you care about someone special and believe you can make a difference in his or her life.
By starting a family, we invite people into our lives. Along with this invitation, comes a promise to care for and keep loved ones safe.
Such promises last a lifetime, with some continuing even after we depart from this world.
The commitment to protect loved ones is part of human nature.
It stems from the core belief that we can rise to meet life’s challenges with confidence.
However, too much confidence can be a danger.
If we are so sure of ourselves that we dismiss the need to plan by thinking, “It will never happen to me”, we leave our promises to chance.
Those we once promised to take care of, may now face the staggering burden of being forced to care for us!
As sure as the sun rises, if we ever really need the help, certain of our loved ones will do whatever it takes to get us the care we need.
Some would overcome any obstacle, make any sacrifice, cover any distance, and even put their very lives on hold.
But, at what cost?
The major risk stemming from the need for extended care is not so much about the risk of you needing care in the future.
Rather, it is about what happens to those who are forced to step up to take care of you!
As a long-term illness or impairment progresses, higher and higher levels of care are required.
If you have a surviving spouse, the burden for care will generally first fall on his or her shoulders.
Spouses faced with the increasing demands of providing care for a partner often suffer irreversible physical, emotional, and financial consequences.
In families with multiple children – especially as the healthy spouse begins to founder under the weight of providing unending care – frequently one child ends up shouldering most of the burden to assist the healthy parent.
Over time, an imbalance often occurs which causes friction among siblings and often leads to future resentment and division in families.
(Note: I am being diplomatic here. My source for this says things like “tears families apart” and refers to children “never speaking to one another again”.)
Due to the 24/7 demand for care, the adult child of a parent in need may be left with no choice but to set aside his or her life.
Thus, impacting his or her career, relationship with spouse, relationships with children, involvement in the community, personal pursuits, and more.
The enormous cost of providing extended care frequently demands a reallocation of retirement income and may force an intrusion into underlying “nest-egg” retirement assets.
Such intrusions can seriously undermine the future financial stability of a surviving spouse, a special needs child, legacy planning, or charitable giving.
Advances in medicine now allow people with chronic conditions to live longer than ever.
While generally great news, for those who have no option but to put aside their lives to provide care, this can also prove a source of increasing stress.
But, it doesn’t have to be this way.
You can help protect the people who love you the most by putting together a plan before care is needed.
The goal of the plan should be threefold.
1. For as long as possible, allow you to gain access to the care you need – preferably at home – with minimal physical, emotional, and financial impact on the people who care about you.
2. Instead of having family members provide your care directly, empower family members to hire and coordinate professionals who will provide your care.
3. Where suitable, seek to mitigate the cost of providing care through the leverage of long term care insurance. In some cases, plans may be available which provide a return of premium to beneficiaries should you end up not needing care.
Even with all its benefits, long term care insurance is not for everyone.
Each person’s situation is different and there is no one-sized plan that fits all.
Learn more about whether long term care insurance makes sense for you, complete and return the form below.
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