Responsible Long Term Care Planning
Long term care should be treated as part and parcel of life because any person who journeys through old age or a chronic illness will naturally need some level of care along the way. Long term care plans allow people to receive home based care, assisted living, nursing home care, and other long term care services which otherwise would have been inaccessible.
Long term care (LTC) services are not cheap especially those that are offered by assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Genworth Financial has, in fact, revealed its 2012 Cost of Care Survey which shows that the median annual rate of an assisted living facility is $39,600 while private rooms in a nursing home flash a whopping $81,030.
Unlike the usual health care that you know of, LTC is not designed to treat a person who has acquired a chronic illness or to make an 85-year-old move and feel like a 50-year-old again. It is primarily provided to people suffering infirmity, a medical condition which requires them to be constantly strapped on a chair or a bed, or serious physical injuries and thus unable to perform certain activities that come with everyday living.
Anyone experiencing difficulty while performing any of the six basic activities of daily living (ADL) such as bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, transferring, and continence has to consider LTC. Ordinary or routine actions that are performed everyday and which even children beyond the toddler years can pull off without assistance from their parents or guardians should not entail difficulty. So an individual who finds it very hard to eat by himself, wash his own hair or simply walk from the bed to a chair or vice versa is obviously not in good shape anymore and would definitely need assistance from a trained caregiver.
Without a concrete LTC plan, however, it would be impossible for an average senior or disabled American to obtain quality care without using up his assets in just a year’s time.
What Should Constitute Long Term Care Plans?
Although practically everyone is advised to invest in a tax qualified long term care insurance (LTCI) policy, it does not mean that once he has accomplished this he can do whatever that he wishes to do with his life.
LTC planning goes beyond the financial aspect. According to Wendy Boglioli, former Olympic swimming medalist and now Genworth Financial’s national spokesperson, the more fit a person is the less burden he will be to his family. It goes without saying that everyone should eat right, sleep right, and be financially responsible by having the passion to plan.
She adds that people have control over their health and finances so they can plan these things. Self-empowerment is the key to a successful LTC plan and this cannot be found outside one’s home because it should come from within.
Financial experts, on the other hand, simply advise families to discuss their long term care plans the way they would a new house or the kids’ educational plan. It is not something that they should avoid. No one, after all, is destined to stay young and fit forever.
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