I've written in the past (here, here, and here) about how women should strongly consider long-term care insurance.  The statistics are staggering, yet women's prices are the same as men's prices, making long term care statistically a much better deal for single women than for single men.

Today a South Jersey paper had a thought provoking article on the subject of women and long-term care.  It is well worth reading.  The basic premise is that women need to spend more time looking at the topic than they currently do.  One of my favorite non-long-term care related pieces of advise is this:

Early in retirement, Stifler says, you might need more than 80 percent of your income before retirement because you're likely to be physically able to do things you've planned to do for years - travel, pursue expensive hobbies, fix up your home. And later in retirement, you may face costly health care needs.

The key, says the article, is for women to examine the long-term care policies they are considering closely, and to make sure they are stable companies.  For example, some carriers have raised rates daramatically in the past.  Stick with the big boys, like the companies we offer, and you are less likely to have a rate increase in the future.  We recommend an A-rated or better company.  For example, John Hancock has an "AAA" rating from AM Best.   Women considering long term care insurance also may want to visit the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement, at www.wiserwomen.org.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty and Long Term Care Insurance

LTCtree follows the cutting edge long term care stories that are important to our readers and learned today that:

"Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty will testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations at a hearing entitled: "Long-Term Care Insurance: Are Consumers Protected for the Long Term?"
 
FL Insurance Commissioner McCarty will speak to the House subcommittee and offer his insight on the increasing demand for long-term care insurance products.   Since Florida has more seniors than any other State, he will explain how Florida has implemented the most stringent requirements in the nation to protect seniors from unfair rate increases to their long term care insurance policies, unfair trade practices and discrimination insurance organizations.  Also he will discuss how the Florida Long Term Care Insurance Partnership program is an increasingly popular program in Florida and other states across America.

A copy of the Kevin McCarty's testimony will be available on the home page of the Office of Insurance Regulation Web site Floir.com his testimony is complete.

Today there was an article in The Herald in Everett, WA regarding Medicare and its limits that got me thinking.   Most people are ignorant of what exactly Medicare/Medicaid covers.  This is no surprise, for the rules change from time to time and most people think that the system covers them when they need it.

In the case covered in the paper today, they point out all of the fine nuances of medical care that make it just enough to make you want to pull out your hair.  In this case, the patient was not admitted to the hospital after a surgery, but instead was recommended for observation.  Medicare wouldn't pay for care while "under observation" and the Long Term Care Insurance policy that the lady had was set to begin paying after a 90-day elimination period, so the family was in a pickle. 

There are many reasons to have long term care insurance, and having a shorter elimination period is a nice luxury, but does of course push up premiums.  When you are trying to decide which policy you are interested in purchasing, you have to make priorities.  You can choose a lower waiting period, say 30 days, but your premiums will be pushed up fairly drastically.  On the flip side of the coin, when you DO need to use your policy, having that shorter elimination period will reward you greatly.  Imagine costs at $100/day (extremely conservative for most cases) and a 30 day elimination period saves you $6,000 over a 90-day elimination period.

The rule of thumb with Medicare right now is that something has got to change.  If not, the "social safety net" will be useless to most Americans with all of the fine print that makes coverage so hard to understand.