Long term care insurance is something that, still, too many people don't think enough about, or if they do it's too late.
Long term care insurance is increasingly important in a society where the people are living longer and where more of them are doing so.
Yet, it is a young type of insurance, so still many people don't know about it, in spite of aggressive sales efforts.
So, why should you pay for this insurance that you actually cannot buy before you are 40 years old anyway? Well, first, imagine the possibility that you will likely have to spend at least a year or perhaps more in some type of long term care facility because you cannot perform, unassisted, two or more ADLs (activities of daily living).
Why should you worry now about having to pay for this potentially extremely expensive type of care? For one thing, don't rely on the government.
Many people think they can rely on Medicare and Medicaid when they get older, but this is just one more myth.
If you need long term care, Medicare will pay for it for the first 20 days.
After that they'll pay for it for another 80 days, minus $95 for each day.
That's all.
And, they will only pay for what is defined as "skilled care", which most long term care is not defined as being.
Medicaid will pay for everything--except, first, you have to spend down all of the money and assets you own until you only have a total net worth of $2,000.
Yes, you read that right.
You might need to sell your car, your house, and just about all of you other worldly possessions to qualify.
If you live in one of the more expensive areas of the nation, such as the New York/New Jersey area or California, you could easily run up bills of $70,000 a year or more for long term care for receiving assisted living and/or going into a nursing facility.
Have you got that much money stashed way that you can easily spend for year or three? The average person, especially the average person in retirement, surely doesn't.
As a matter of fact, research has demonstrated that nearly 70% of single people and over one-third of married people would spend down and use up all of their liquid assets for long term care expenses if they needed it in less than 100 days.
Half of all women and 33% of all men who are senior citizens can expect to spend some time in a nursing home and/or otherwise need long term care assistance.
This means that people should plan to need to pay these expenses--and we've already talked about how much government assistance you are NOT going to get for it.
Let's keep in mind that government health care assistance is welfare by definition, and while politicians often encourage people to become welfare recipients so that they can increase their power, in practice the government does all it can to discourage welfare assistance.
And, for the average person, it's simply a fact that they should expect their health to deteriorate as they reached advanced age.
You also should not rely on your other family members.
First, it's another myth that people should look forward to leaning on their children for help when they are senior citizens, and secondly even if that were true many seniors' children simply cannot afford to throw all of their money into helping their aging parents.
They do, after all, have their own lives and, very often, their own children to finance.
Long term care insurance is like other insurance--you have to start paying for it before you actually need it, since it is meant to mitigate against risk.
If you reach the point where you cannot perform at least two of the ADLs (like brushing your teeth) without assistance, it is too late for you to buy this vitally important insurance.
Start looking into it today, if you are over 40 and still reasonably healthy.
Long term care insurance is increasingly important in a society where the people are living longer and where more of them are doing so.
Yet, it is a young type of insurance, so still many people don't know about it, in spite of aggressive sales efforts.
So, why should you pay for this insurance that you actually cannot buy before you are 40 years old anyway? Well, first, imagine the possibility that you will likely have to spend at least a year or perhaps more in some type of long term care facility because you cannot perform, unassisted, two or more ADLs (activities of daily living).
Why should you worry now about having to pay for this potentially extremely expensive type of care? For one thing, don't rely on the government.
Many people think they can rely on Medicare and Medicaid when they get older, but this is just one more myth.
If you need long term care, Medicare will pay for it for the first 20 days.
After that they'll pay for it for another 80 days, minus $95 for each day.
That's all.
And, they will only pay for what is defined as "skilled care", which most long term care is not defined as being.
Medicaid will pay for everything--except, first, you have to spend down all of the money and assets you own until you only have a total net worth of $2,000.
Yes, you read that right.
You might need to sell your car, your house, and just about all of you other worldly possessions to qualify.
If you live in one of the more expensive areas of the nation, such as the New York/New Jersey area or California, you could easily run up bills of $70,000 a year or more for long term care for receiving assisted living and/or going into a nursing facility.
Have you got that much money stashed way that you can easily spend for year or three? The average person, especially the average person in retirement, surely doesn't.
As a matter of fact, research has demonstrated that nearly 70% of single people and over one-third of married people would spend down and use up all of their liquid assets for long term care expenses if they needed it in less than 100 days.
Half of all women and 33% of all men who are senior citizens can expect to spend some time in a nursing home and/or otherwise need long term care assistance.
This means that people should plan to need to pay these expenses--and we've already talked about how much government assistance you are NOT going to get for it.
Let's keep in mind that government health care assistance is welfare by definition, and while politicians often encourage people to become welfare recipients so that they can increase their power, in practice the government does all it can to discourage welfare assistance.
And, for the average person, it's simply a fact that they should expect their health to deteriorate as they reached advanced age.
You also should not rely on your other family members.
First, it's another myth that people should look forward to leaning on their children for help when they are senior citizens, and secondly even if that were true many seniors' children simply cannot afford to throw all of their money into helping their aging parents.
They do, after all, have their own lives and, very often, their own children to finance.
Long term care insurance is like other insurance--you have to start paying for it before you actually need it, since it is meant to mitigate against risk.
If you reach the point where you cannot perform at least two of the ADLs (like brushing your teeth) without assistance, it is too late for you to buy this vitally important insurance.
Start looking into it today, if you are over 40 and still reasonably healthy.
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