We suggest that you print this page and look it over in due course.  We have included quizzes, stats, and policy details that, in our experience, you will find helpful when shopping for Long Term Care Insurance.  If you have any questions, a specialist is just a phone call away, at 1-800-800-6139.

A few reasons you may need Long Term Care…

• Alzheimer’s Disease, Senile Dementia
• Parkinson’s Disease, Organic Brain Syndrome
• Arthritis, Bone Fractures, Depression
• Cancer, Diabetes
• TIA’s, Strokes
• Heart Disease

What are your odds?

Take a brief quiz:

Do not “Crisis Manage” by trying to solve the problem AFTER it happens.  Instead, have a plan.

No one likes to think about on the chance of needing Long Term Care, whether it is nursing home care, assisted living care, at home care, community care, or any other type of Long Term Care.  Maybe that is why so many people in the past have not planned for Long Term Care.

Unfortunately, when the time has come and they needed it, their finances have been caught off-guard.  Families have “crisis managed” when their mom or dad has fallen and broken a hip.  Not only have they had no idea where to begin in order to obtain Long Term Care services for their parent, they have had no idea how to pay for it.

If you do not want your family to crisis manage when you or a family member needs Long Term Care, ask yourself the following questions before the need for Long Term Care arises:

• Where will you get your care?
• Who will manage and coordinate your care?
• How will you pay for your care?

Could your nest egg (savings) withstand the devastating cost of Long Term Care?

Today, most people are aware that Medicare pays very little for Long Term Care and that Medicaid only pays once you are impoverished and have run out of money.

What is more striking is that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 makes it a federal crime to “knowingly and willfully” transfer financial assets in order to qualify for Medicaid coverage of nursing home and other Long Term Care services.  In other words, you have to have transferred your assets five years BEFORE you file for a Medicaid Long Term Care claim.

The fact is, if Long Term Care is required, the money to pay for it comes from the family’s savings. Unfortunately, most people’s savings cannot withstand several years of Long Term Care costs.

Perhaps that is why 70% of those in nursing homes nationwide are supported by Medicaid.  Once on Medicaid, your choices for care are limited to only those homes that have voluntarily chosen to participate in this federal Medicaid government program. These nursing homes may not be the nursing homes you would necessarily prefer for yourself or a loved one.  So, if Medicare and Medicaid won’t do the job, what is your answer?

Is Long Term Care Insurance right for you and your family?

Seniors and Baby Boomers who purchase Long Term Care Insurance generally do so because of one of the following reasons:

• They do not want to be a burden on their children, spouse, or family.
• They want quality care for themselves or a family member.
• They want to maintain their independence.
• They want to preserve their nest egg for their surviving spouse or their children.

You may have your own reasons.  What is your main reason for wanting Long Term Care Insurance?

What is an affordable premium?

Long Term Care Insurance is affordable if you can purchase the coverage without affecting your lifestyle or depleting your life savings.  Would you agree with this statement?

Which of these four major risks have you insured?

Are you willing to risk your life’s savings and nest egg?

What risk, other than the cost of Long Term Care, can you think of that could involuntarily wipe out your nest egg?

If you are like most seniors and Baby Boomers, Long Term Care is the only other MAJOR risk that is left looming. Long Term Care Insurance is likely the last major insurance you will ever have to cover, and it is your most likely and potentially most costly risk.

Where should the money come from to pay your Long Term Care Insurance premiums?

If you are already depleting your life savings in order to maintain your lifestyle, Long Term Care Insurance is not for you. However, most of the seniors and Baby Boomers are more frugal than their children and have set aside some emergency money, often called rainy day money, or a nest egg.  Most have established a habit of reinvesting some, or even all, of the interest they are earning on their principal.

By now you should have concluded that the only catastrophic risk left that could involuntarily destroy or severely deplete your life savings is the cost of Long Term Care.   Therefore, would it not be fair to say that your emergency money, or rainy day money, is really your Long Term Care Insurance as of right now?

Ask yourself this tough question…

If you were to remain self-insured and you needed nursing home care or extensive home care, how long would your emergency savings last before it was depleted? _____ years

OK, Long Term Care Insurance makes sense for your financial situation.  What is the next step?

After you have determined where the money will come from to purchase Long Term Care Insurance, you must decide from what company you will purchase it.  There are not many experts in the field, but rather many financial advisors who sell Long Term Care Insurance on the side.  Ask most of these financial advisors a question about the policy, and you will probably realize that you know more than the financial advisor. Your best help will come from a full-time career specialist in Long Term Care Insurance, such as any of the specialists on our LTCtree.com team.  We know the industry inside and out.

There are four considerations you must make when purchasing Long Term Care Insurance:

The Company: If the company you choose to do business with has not earned an A+ rating by A.M. Best (independent analysts of the insurance industry who base their ratings on financial position and operating performance), or if it has very little experience in Long Term Care Insurance, you may be the one to suffer. You must also feel comfortable that the company you choose will be around to pay your claim and not demand numerous rate increases over the coming years.  Your best move is to go with an A+ or better rated company.

The Policy: Policies vary tremendously from company to company. You may think you are comparing apples to apples, but you probably are not. Be sure you are getting the policy benefits you expect and you can do that by reviewing at at least the top five Long Term Care Insurance carriers.

The Plan: Different agents offer different plans. It will be up to you to determine if the plan suits your needs. Does the plan take into account what the cost of care will be fifteen years from now?  If it does not, you might be stuck with paying a larger-than-expected share of the cost of care.  Will you have to buy more coverage at a higher price to keep up with inflation? Will the plan pay for the average expected care a person your age is likely to receive before death?

The Price: The old saying “You get what you pay for” definitely applies in this case. Price is a function of how carefully a company underwrites, its profit objectives, and its willingness to increase the premiums on existing customers five to ten years after purchase. If the company has had rate increases, or if it has only been offering Long Term Care Insurance for a few years, you would be smart to think that rate increases are coming down the road, especially if the premiums seem low now.

“The key to purchasing the right LTC policy is to find the balance between paying too much and too little for a plan.  There are a lot of companies that sell LTC coverage, but only a handful that are quality, in LTCtree.com’s opinion.  It is imperative that you shop around and get quotes from three to five companies.  Choose a broker who works for all the top companies to get a true objective opinion.  When deciding on the amount of coverage, it is important to know the statistics, such as 92% of all claims on LTC are for three years or less.  Indeed, unless your family has a history of Alzheimer’s, it might not be prudent to have an unlimited benefits period.  Take your time and do your homework, and you will find the right LTC policy for you.”

LTCtree.com