Planning Ahead for Long Term Health Care

I just finished reading an informative article published by the Mayo Clinic on planning for long term care.  The article takes a very foundation approach from discussing the unpleasant subject with your spouse or family, then developing a plan of attack if you were to ever need long term care.  The article also states that most people wait until they are already sick or injured to plan and by that time it is too late to have any long term care insurance and you are left with a hasty decision. 

What types of long term care services are available?

1. Home health care: typically the aid or nurse will actually come into your home and give you care.  The care can be skilled care such as physical therapy, but most of the time the home health care is custodial care and the aid helps with your basic activities of living: Eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, and maintaining continencce.  If you need help with those activities you'll probably need help with housekeeping, preparing meals and shopping and actually many of the top long term care policies on the market pay for that assistance as well. 
   
2. Adult care: is basically day care for older people...you see it a lot in spousal situations in which one spouse has Alzheimer's and the other spouse just needs a break maybe to go shopping so they will drop them off in the morning and pick them up in the after noon.
   
3. Senior housing: Is a nice intermediary between living independent at home and an assisted living facility.  They are typically apartment complex style setting that you get your own apartment but the apartment are equipped with rails, ramps, etc.  They also have many social activities which can be a nice change, as well as transportation if needed. 
   
4. Assisted living facilities: you might need more help than senior housing can offer but still would like to remain independent.   An assisted living facility staff member can help residents take medications, help with bathing, dressing, and even provide some basic medical care. Many assisted living facilities also have on-site barber and beauty shops, medical clinics, and dining halls which resemble restaurants. 
   
5. Nursing homes: are typically the last resort and offer 24/7 nursing care for people who are recovering from illness or injury, or sadly waiting to pass away. Nursing homes  are designed for those people who need more medical care than other long term care options can offer, such as wound dressings ,physical therapy, and help with kidney dialysis machines, respirators, etc.  Personal care for bathing, eating, dressing, toileting, etc are also available in nursing homes.
6. Continuing-care retirement community (CCRC):are designed to care for all levels of care at one property.  They might have an independent living wing, all the way up to an Alzheimer's wing where the residents need constant monitoring. 

Some good questions to ask when determining what type of care your relative or friend needs are: 

• Do you or does your spouse/family member need help with everyday activities?
• Do they need Nursing care? 
  
• Would your or your spouse/family member prefer a small facility, a specific location, a private room?
• Is there an exercise room or physical therapy available on the property?
• Does the facility have a common dining area for the residents or do you eat in your room? 
  
• Will you be paying for the long term care facility out of your own pocket?
• Do you need a facility that will accept Medicare or Medicaid patients? 
• Does the facility simply seem safe and and is the staff friendly?
• How is the smell of the facility?
• Is the temperature in the building comfortable?
• Do the residents seem happy and cheerful?
• Are there enough caregivers on staff and what specifically is the ration of residents to staff?
• What are the individual rooms like? 
  
• Can you choose when to get up in the morning and go to bed at night or are there curfews?
• When can friends and family visit?
• What social activities are offered for the residents?
• Can you continue to see your personal doctors or do they use their own doctors?
• How many people are on staff during the daytime and nighttime?
• What type of medical and skilled care training does the staff have?

Paying for long term care, what are my options?

Long term care can be expensive and unfortunately most do not plan and first have to spend down their savings to nothing then end up on Welfare.  However there is a common sense solution. 

Long term care insurance makes the most sense if you can affored the premiums and generally if you have $100,000+ in liquid saving it might make sense for you.  You pay an annual premium for long term care insurance and in exchange when you need long term care, the insurance provider pays you or the facility either a monthly or daily rate.  The Mayo Clinic article does a great job outlining a basic plan of attack for tackling this problem and it is important to note that you need to be relatively healthy to qualify for long term care insurance so plan sooner rather than later.

Pay for the care yourself out of your own savings can be an option but most financially savvy people realize that they can use pennies to insure dollars by buying long term care insurance just like the other insurance plans they have such as home owners, auto, life, health, etc.  The shocking fact is you are much more likely to need long term care at some-point tan have a house fire, or total your car.  At LTCtree we work with most all of the blue-chip companies and will be happy to mail you a side-by-side comparison, so simply fill out the quick form below.