This year, like every other year, is going to be a time of great change all around us. The Congress may have bestowed an extra life to coffers in state and federal governments around the country with an extension of deadlines so as to not reach a fiscal cliffs, but the truth of the matter remains. Our country is facing a real time threat to funds, resources and budgets and we can no more rest on guarantees that they will be around to protect us by the time we retire from our service years. We ought to be making wise choices that will stand us in good stead in the coming years, and take responsibility for our own futures.
Especially if you already have the means to. So what’s a good way to start doing that? By considering long term care insurance, it’s advantages and what it would cost you to take care of your own health in the future on your terms.
So what is long terms care? Long term care is a large number of services in healthcare and related fields given to people with chronic illnesses or disabilities. It also includes care-giving activities like taking care of daily routines (bathing, eating, changing clothes, using the bathroom) if a person needs it. Long term care is given when the illness or condition persists over several years. According to research estimates, primary (and unofficial) caregivers in long term care usually tend to be family members and loved ones, who are not paid for what they do. Caregiving as a family member is oftentimes expected, especially in the case of families that are strapped for cash and do not have adequate insurance protection for long term care needs. But research has also proven that this kind of caregiving can be taxing on all, especially the caregivers and their immediate other dependants as well. If you have the opportunity to put affordable insurance in place early on while you can, you owe it to yourself and your kids to take care of things sooner rather than later.
Some people like thinking that they won’t be around for too long, and therefore won’t need long term care. That is not the case for most people; research has again proven that life expectancy has increased significantly and people are living longer these days. With this information, it won’t be safe anymore to assume that you won’t need some form of long term care. And long term care is not just needed when you’re old and n your retirement years. Families with a history of chronic illnesses or conditions that have early onsets should watch out for signs and symptoms and buy umbrella long term coverage for their entire families to protect young children as well.
When people argue against the case for long term care, they often say that it’s a waste of time because long term care never ends up being used.
According to this US News article ,
long term care insurance providers have changed their offering to include the customer’s best interests a little more. Read an excerpt from the article that describes the new products below:
- Shared care products that allow a married couple to take out separate plans that are connected. “If the first person passes away without using it, the benefit transfers to the spouse,” Newman says.
- Hybrid products that are a life insurance policy that has a rider for long-term care insurance. Only a handful of companies offer it now, and it is being perfected, Udell says. But the hybrid provides a way to set up a pot of assets that can be used for long-term care. And if it is never needed for that, the family will receive a life insurance benefit.
- Long-term care partnership programs, which are offered in about 40 states. The advantage: Americans who have a state-approved, private long-term care insurance policy will be able to hold onto more of their assets if they later need to apply for Medicaid.”
So if you’re looking to make your own way out, create your own safety net and rely on your own means in your retirement years, seriously consider a long term care insurance policy. Look also at how much you can afford in monthly payments. You can shop for* long term care insurance* on an aggregator website to help save some money. And don’t forget that your whole *life insurance policy* can also allow the addition of an LTCinsurance rider. Ask your carrier about adding an LTC insurance rider on your whole life policy, which will allow you to use the cash value to pay for LTC costs instead of using it for death benefit.
