Long Term Care Insurance, Optional or Compulsory?
Technically, long term care insurance is optional and thus people can choose to buy it or not. But if you will seriously assess this insurance product, taking into account the cost of long term care (LTC) you will understand why it should be treated as indispensable.
Under the new health care law every American is required to have a certain amount of health insurance coverage, but it did not say the same thing about LTCI so apparently, not everybody in the country feels pressured to get hold of the latter. However, if they study the benefits that they could get out of an LTCI policy and from their regular health insurance perhaps they will realize that the former is more important as LTC, after all, is not something that you will only need for a day or a month.
Most people require three years of care on average. Each person, however, has a different set of health care requirements so one may be compelled to spend more than the other. Still, if you will need three years of care a hundred thousand dollars is not going to be enough to cover your expenses.
Check the 2011 Cost of Care Survey of Genworth Financial if you have no idea how much one year of LTC will cost you. From the said data you will glean that the cost of care differs according to state and the level of care. Right now, the national median annual rate of a home health aide is $43,472 so this information alone instantly gives you a clear picture of what you are at risk of if you choose to self-insure rather than avail LTCI coverage.
What Long Term Care Insurance Offers
With your health insurance policy you could get prescription discounts, limited dental and vision treatments and medical checkup that will cost a fraction of what you would’ve paid for had you been uninsured. Unfortunately, that’s all you can expect from it because once you become too old, weak and disabled to perform the simplest of your routine daily activities you cannot turn to your health insurance and hold it responsible for your needs.
Health insurance policies do not provide nursing home coverage, neither do these pay for in-home care services. Simply put, it is not designed for LTC which is not only costly but goes on for an indefinite period of time.
Many people continue to think that only senior folks should buy LTCI policies as they are no longer capable of maintaining their own keep but the truth is that anybody, regardless of age, can use it at an unexpected time.
Most elderly folks with Alzheimer’s acquire 10 to 15 years of care but there are people in their 40s who develop multiple sclerosis which also requires years of care. Both health disorders normally require nursing home care which currently has an average annual cost of $77,745. If an individual with Alzheimer’s would stay for 10 years in a nursing facility his family could end up forking out a total amount of $777,450. This exceeds half a million and average Americans do not earn this much.
Long term care insurance is undeniably the only product that will protect you and your family financially even if you receive a decade of LTC services. Find time to discuss a good policy with your trusted LTCI specialist.
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