Communicating in Long Term Care Language
Out of 78 million baby boomers who are expected to need care not too long from now, only about 10 million of them have managed to buy long term care insurance (LTCI). Perhaps, a little brush up on the long term care glossary will increase the insured population in no time.
Long term care (LTC) is not difficult to understand but it continues to be a disturbing issue because the cost of care continues to rise but only a handful of Americans are financially ready for it. Most of them are either hoping that their home’s equity will be enough to foot their LTC expenses or expecting Medicaid to reach out to them once they come down to a medical condition that will require serious care.
If someone you know belongs to the last batch of baby boomers, perhaps your parents, an aunt, an uncle, or anyone else dear to you, tell him or her that it is not too late to plan. Each person has to be responsible for his own future health care needs and learn what has to be learned in the LTCI industry, such as how to choose the right LTCI carrier or where to find a reliable agent who will help him weigh the components of a policy.
It is also necessary to familiarize oneself with the terminology used in LTC as this will make planning much easier.
Important Terms in the Long Term Care Glossary
On the important components of an LTCI policy, there are four that one has to pay attention to and these are the following:
• Maximum Benefit Amount – This refers to the amount of dollars an LTCI policy will pay the insured individual for a given period of time.
• Maximum Benefit Period – It is the length of time the insured will receive benefits from his policy
• Elimination Period – The period of time that the insured person has to pay for the LTC services he receives using his personal assets. It is important that he satisfies this aspect of the policy before he can receive his benefits.
• Inflation Protection – Keeps the benefits of one’s policy at pace with inflation. Increases his benefits on an annual basis.
Apart from studying the important factors of an LTCI policy, it is also very important that you can identify the level of care which you are most likely to need because if you will only guess what it is, you will outlive your resources.
Your choice of LTC setting should conform to the level of care that you will need so it is necessary to figure out the latter first. To succeed in this step, visit your doctor for a thorough checkup. Suppose you’ve done that already, here below are some LTC settings that you can look into:
• In-Home Care – Custodial or medical care that is rendered in the patient’s own home.
• Nursing Home – One type of LTC facility which provides patients 24-hour skilled nursing care and monitoring.
• Assisted Living Facility – An LTC facility which provides custodial care to individuals 65 years old and older who cannot live alone in their homes.
To be adept in the LTC jargon, take time to sit down and read through the long term care glossary which you can find online and in books.
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