What You Need to Know about Long-Term Care (LTC) Insurance

What is long-term care insurance, and why is it important? Statistics tell us that:

• 75% of those over 65 will need a caregiver or facility services


• 40% of people who are under 65 are either on or will be using long-term care benefits for periods of time due to accidents or illness.

When we are younger, we think we are invincible.



And when we think of long-term care, many of us think of being old and in a wheelchair. This is often not the case. Long-term care services are needed if you are in a car or other injury or become ill—for example, if should you have a heart attack, cancer, or neurological disease where caregiver services are needed for home treatment or transportation to the physician and other caregiver services for a number of months or years. The cost of long-term care (averaging over $80k annually) is enough to quickly place a family in financial crisis. This is why long-term care insurance is essential.

What does long-term care insurance cover?

Long-term care insurance helps protect your assets, your family’s assets and the well-being of those around you by giving you control over how and where you receive care. To put it bluntly, it allows the family to be your family and not your part time or full time caregivers.

When do you need to consider purchasing long-term care insurance and what do you need to know?

Own long-term care insurance as young when you have additional disposable income. Premiums and benefits are going to be more restrictive in the future. This is the golden era of owning long-term care insurance. The younger and healthier you are, the less expensive the premiums.

Do you have sufficient financial resources for long-term home care?

Long-term care insurance is recommended upon retirement, since two-thirds of those 65 years and older will end up requiring some type of long-term care.

Without long-term care insurance, you must either have the funds to cover home health care, an assisted living facility or a nursing home yourself, or else you rely on Medicaid or Medicare assistance. This would leave you very little choice as to your own assets and income.

Long-term care insurance allows people to live their lives with dignity and choice. If you already have long-term care insurance, the next step is to assess what services you would need for in-home care, and how much those services cost. You can talk to a number of people to get guidance on long-term care planning, such as financial advisors or general insurance professionals but the most informed and experienced people on this topic are long-term care specialists. There is a reason why people like me specialize in this type of insurance. It is because plans, benefits, and premiums, and underwriting guidelines are evolving.  A professional will have the experience to help design plans which meet your needs both in coverage, affordability, and to make a smart investment for yourself and your family.

Think about it.

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