Not Even the Future President Can Resolve Long Term Care
As presidential candidates lash out at each other in their speeches notice that nobody said anything valuable about resolving health care problems specifically long term care costs which continue to demoralize average Americans.
It appears that economic freedom, which you’ll often hear from these president wannabes, no longer includes affordable health care for the elderly and the disabled. One candidate obviously has his mind on expanding his business in America while another questions the insurance coverage that people are getting.
It’s pointless to rack your brains just to figure out which candidate is capable of coming up with a long term care (LTC) program that will benefit all Americans. If you resort to this, it would be like driving down an endless road which eventually stops at a dead end.
There are no shortcuts to low-cost LTC which everyone in the country aspires to receive someday should they develop a health condition that will require serious care. It is only through an intelligent plan that one can get LTC with minimal out-of-pocket expenses.
To be able to come up with an intelligent LTC plan you have to identify your future health care needs first which is not as difficult as you think it is. All it takes is a visit to your doctor and a thorough research on your family’s health history as the first fundamental step of LTC planning involves understanding your health and what you could possibly require in the future.
Preparing for Long Term Care Costs
Studying the cost of care in your area means looking into different types of LTC facilities even those which you think you will never need in the future.
It is better to have knowledge in the overall cost of care in your area rather than be armed only with information about your preferred LTC setting because you can never be 100% sure that you’ll only need one form of care.
Experts on the field of LTC say at the onset of care most elderly folks manage to remain in their homes but three or five years later they are moved either to assisted living or a nursing home. If you’re only prepared for in-home care you could be taken aback by the cost of a nursing home should you wind up needing it.
At present, a year’s stay in a private nursing home room will cost $78,000 on average. Suppose you’re going to stay in this facility for three years, can you afford to fork out $240,000? This is assuming that your need for nursing home care came after you’ve obtained three years of home-based care which already cost you $1140,000 and one year of assisted living which amounted to $42,200.
Perhaps by thinking of LTC planning as the anticipation of what could become of your health 30 years from now or so, you will be able to prepare yourself and your family for higher long term care costs. Start planning today unless your goal in life is to use all of your money on LTC.