Kiplinger's Personal Finance and the Seattle Times on Long Term Care Insurance

     The Seattle Times ran a story on whether to use long term care insurance as a financial planning tool or not.  The main point the Seattle Times article made was that long term care insurance is ideal for people who have assets to protect (100K+) but are not extremely wealthy at the same time.  The people in the middle seem to face the greatest long term care risk so they should at least look into a long term care plan.  I agree that if a person does not have many assets that long term care insurance is not a wise decision, however I feel that even people with significant nest-eggs should still buy long term care insurance simply because it is a smart business decision.  Along the same lines, the wealthy still have home owners insurance even though they don't have to; they realize that it is smart to spend pennies to protect dollars and one can view long term care insurance as a similar "must have" insurance. 

     The article went on to mention that magazines such as Kiplinger's Personal Finance have ran an increasing amount of articles on long term care insurance in recent years because they like most financial professionals realize that times have changed and families really no longer take care of one another anymore, they hire someone else to do so such as a home health care aide.  The family's role now has turned into a care manager rather than an actual provider.  With that job outsourcing comes a devastating high cost of long term care that if left ignored can wipe-out a life time of hard work and prudent savings.

     If you have liquid assets of 100K or more long term care insurance could be a good fit for your financial picture.  At LTCtree.com our specialty is helping clients sift through the array of options and companies and filter out the top 5-6 companies.  Then you can look at those top 5-6 side-by-side carriers and judge for yourself if long term care is a good fit.  For your long term care insurance quotes please fill out the short form below and we will mail you your quotes today.

The Californian, a newspaper in Salinas, CA, says that 1 in 5 of us will one day face the need for long term care.

You don't want to think about the day you may need help getting dressed or bathing, but according to America's Health Insurance Plans, about 19 percent of Americans 65 years of age and older deal with some degree of chronic physical impairment.

Today from New Hampshire, an article in the Citizen talks about the story of John Albright, a man who at 91, still hasn't cashed in on his long-term care insurance.  Unlike the policies we prefer here at LTCtree, his policy doesn't appear to cover anything but nursing home care.  Because of this, he cannot cash in his policy, and he says he'd like to keep it that way as long as possible.

The article goes on to talk about the high costs of all long term care.  The gentleman in the story's rent, which also includes all of his meals and the peace of mind of having around-the-clock access to a nursing staff, costs more than $3,000 monthly.  But he also has been paying about $850 quarterly in premiums for long-term care insurance.  Because this policy won't pay for home or assisted living care, the way our policies generally do, he cannot tap into the benefits.

Most people want to stay in their homes as long as possible and prefer assisted living over living in a nursing home unless they have significant medical needs, said Kathy Oby, Langdon Place's administrator. Assisted living facilities are also less expensive than nursing homes, she added.

Still, the cost of most long-term care has been on the rise nationwide — exceeding many household incomes. The average cost of such care, whether at home, in assisted living facilities or in nursing homes, has increased steadily nationwide over the past four years — at a nearly 5 percent annual rate, according to the 2007 Cost of Care Survey by Genworth Financial, an insurer based in Richmond, Va.

Among its estimates:
Average ANNUAL nursing home costs
Private rooms
New Hampshire: $100,025
Maine: $82,519
Nationally: $74,806

Semiprivate rooms
New Hampshire: $90,534
Maine: $75,442
Nationally: $65,985

Average ANNUAL ASSISTED LIVING costs
One private bedroom
New Hampshire: $39,245
Maine: $40,488
Nationally: $32,573

home health care costs
average hourly rates
New Hampshire: $24
Maine: $29
Nationally: $25