What is Long-Term Care Insurance?

As we age, the likelihood we will need some type of medical or personal care increases.  We may need long-term care - a variety of services which help meet the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods of time.  Such services typically include assistance with normal daily tasks like dressing, bathing, and using the bathroom. Long-term care can be provided at home, in the community, in assisted living facilities or in nursing homes.

On average the need for long term care services lasts months or years, not weeks or months, and can be very expensive.  The costs of long term care on average exceed $50,000 per year (www.longtermcare.gov) and generally speaking, Medicare, Medicare supplement insurance and basic medical insurance plans do not cover the cost.

Long term care insurance was developed for precisely this reason – to provide the needed financial protection against the cost of long term care that other plans simply don’t cover. If you need long-term care services, what financial resources could you call on? Do you have the necessary savings to pay for home health care for six months, a year or longer without the expense being a burden on your lifestyle?

If not, long-term care insurance may be a good option for you to explore.

An insurance policy, based on your need for care, will pay a daily or monthly benefit amount to cover some or all of your long term care costs.  Some policies will pay benefits for up to a stated period of time such as three or four years while others pay until a maximum dollar amount has been paid, such as $150,000.  Most policies have options for your daily or monthly and policy maximum benefits to automatically increase every year so that your coverage keeps pace with rising health care costs.