Blaine Christensen Insurance Agency Your Long Term Care Insurance Expert
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Daryl Smith
John Schoonover
Sue Boswell
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When is the best time to buy long-term care insurance? lt's a question
people ask every day. The answer is:
before you need it! While long-term care
insurance may not be appropriate for
everyone, the increasing costs of
healthcare combined with the fact that
people are living longer these days, means
that most of us will need to stretch our
retirement savings over decades. So, the
best thing to do is to have a plan.
A long-term care event could
seriously affect your life not just
emotionally, but also financially. In
general,private home care can run as high
as $36 an hour ($288 a day for an eight hour
day) - $105,120 annually (Genworth
Financial 2010 Cost of Care Survey).
Medicare typically only covers certain
long-term care not to mention the fact
that it has certain limitations and options.
Long-term care insurance typically
covers the cost of the following:
* Help in your home with daily
activities like bathing, dressing,
transferring, and eating.
* Community programs, such as
adult day care.
* Assisted living services that are
provided in a special residential
setting other than your own
home. These services may
include meals, health
monitoring, and help with daily
activities.
* Visiting nurses.
* Care in a nursing home
No matter what your age, a typical
financial goal is to grow hard earned
assets and to take care of loved ones,
now and in the future. So let's take a
closer look at when long-term care
insurance may make sense for you.
Your 20s and 30sIn these age groups you are energetic,
enjoying peak health and feeling you are
invincible.lt is a possibility that you have
not even thought of life past age 40.
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Your 40sThe big 4-0. At this stage, retirement is
becoming a reality. You start checking
your position in your retirement fund and
start seeking a good financial advisor to
maximize your investments. At this point
too, you are more established in your
career and your children are older -
maybe reaching high school or college
age.
Combined with caring for children, at
this age, you may also have parents that
need long-term care. Now the reality hits
home about how long-term care affects
families. At some point in the future, you
may need long term care. lt would be
smart to have a plan for such an event.
Your 50sThe golden years. The kids are grown;
you are entering retirement; maybe
you've even paid off your house and
joined the ranks of AARP! Whether
through personal family experience or
from the experience of friends, you've
seen how the need for long-term care can
tap a family's resources and the emotional
burden it may bring.
As difficult as it can be, it's time to
think about long-term care insurance
yourself and have the conversation with
your spouse or loved ones. You will want
to consider any health problems you have,
how long your relatives tend to live, and
any assets you plan to leave to heirs. Just
as important is the fact that it is also time
to consult a professional about the many
options for long term care and how to
fund it. At this age, policies can be
affordable and can bring peace of mind
once these risks are covered.
Your 60sThis decade is when people usually look
into purchasing a long-term care
insurance policy. lf you wait until you are
in your 70s,you may face insurability and
affordability issues. The older you get, the
greater the risk that you will have health
problems and become uninsurable or a
long-term care insurance policy will be
more expensive.
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Your 70sWhile it may be very expensive to buy
LTC insurance at this stage, consider the
cost of needing long-term care versus
paying a premium for a policy. you will
find that premiums for long-term care
insurance are still less than paying for
long-term care. Consider this: for a 70-
year old man or woman,the average long-term
care insurance policy may cost
anywhere from S10,000 to S15,0OO a year.
This is a $200 a day, lifetime benefit
standard rate policy.
Compare that annual premium with the
average cost of long-term care expenses.
In California the average cost for long-term
care can be anywhere from $75,000
to $100,000 a year! So while the annual
long-term care insurance premiums
certainly aren't inexpensive, LTC insurance
can give you the coverage you need at a
significantly smaller cost than self-insuring
- allowing you to safeguard a lifetime of
hard-earned money.
There is No Right Age For LTC lnsuranceSo when should you buy long-term care
insurance? The answer is: before you
need it! Factors such as, net worth; how
much of your assets you are willing to
spend on health care, how much you want
to leave your heirs; marital status; and age
all play a role in deciding the right time.
For example, if you are in your 40s with a
family history of Alzheimer,s and
longevity, you may want to consider
purchasing a policy now. lf you have a
high net worth and want to control where
you receive care and you want to leave a
large inheritance you may be able to
assume the higher premiums in your mid-
60s.
One thing is certain and that is the
uncertainty of life. With solid planning,
including long-term care insurance, you
can be better prepared to assume the
risks of living a long and full life.
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This article is compliments of Ken Hacker, a long-term care insurance specialist practising in Walnut Creek CA.
Let the Blaine Christensen Insurance Agency, help you understand and protect all of the risks you run and all of the perils your business faces. We will do this with a well thought out and executed business insurance policy designed just for our Long Term Care Insurance policy holders.