Long Term Care Insurance Legislation Introduced

A bit of potential good news  was reported by The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) today that Long-Term Care Affordability and Security Act was introduced by Representatives Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), Charles Boustany (R-LA) and Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL).  The proposed bill would be a huge win in my opinion for both the government and fellow citizens as it would provide three key benefits for consumers and help take financial strain off State Medicaid programs.  The long term care program would:       

1. Permit long-term care insurance to be included in employer-sponsored cafeteria group plans.  
2. Included in flexible spending accounts as well.
3. Most importantly, people could pay long-term care insurance premiums using pre-tax dollars along   with making the LTC premiums tax deductible for a greater percent of people.

Common sense can imagine that in just a few short years when the Social Security Program totally ruptures that hoping that the State and Federal Governments will bail you out of your potential long term care bills will be in vein.  The money is and will not be there to pay most people’s future long term care bills and the government’s role should certainly not be a nanny for all. What they can do is help encourage people to plan for long term care insurance themselves as opposed to relying on Medicaid by giving tax incentives.  This first step in getting people to plan ahead for this increasing risk is a good start and  is a must if one wants to ensure that their independence during their retirement is protected.

At LTCtree we have a team who stay on top of current and pending long term care legislation and if you’d like to learn if LTC is a good fit then simply fill in the form below and we’ll mail you out your quotes and info the next day.  Thanks for reading today…we really appreciate it.