Long Term Care
Bill O'Hara
Licensed Life and
Health Insurance Broker
Written 5/12/2023
Long Term Care
Intro | Should I Take Medicare Now?
|How To Signup For Medicare | Medicare Secondary Options |
I'm Turning 65 But My Spouse Is Not |
Medicare Disability | Medicaid
"I truly feel he has my best interests at heart. It’s been a pleasure working with him."
What is Long Term Care?
Long Term Care policies are designed to help you cover the costs of nursing homes or home health care. Many people assume Medicare and other health insurance policies cover nursing homes, but this is not the case. These services are incredibly expensive, and having a Long-Term Care policy can provide you with a hedge against these rising costs.
Why Long-Term Care?
Long Term Care insurance can help people in many different situations. If you don’t have many family members that can take care of you, Long Term Care insurance can help provide home health aides so you can stay in your home. It can also help cover living in a nursing home.
If you have a family and want to leave behind a legacy, Long Term Care can help protect your assets. Nursing homes and home health aides can cost $50,000 to $150,000 a year depending on where you live. This leaves even the best estates vulnerable to major financial detriment.
Enrollment Process
Long Term Care policies start by determining what type of benefit you would like. We will see how many years you think you will need Long Term Care and then determine what the monthly payout and lifetime benefit of the policy will be.
We will then fill out the application which will ask questions about your health and finances. You will also have someone come to your house to determine if you are eligible based on the Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s). These include bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, eating, and continence. If you cannot perform 2 of these 6 activities, you will not be eligible for Long Term Care insurance.
What To Expect When Using Your Long- Term Care Policy
You can utilize your long term care benefit when you cannot perform 2 out of 6 Activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, eating, and continence). Note that there is something called an Elimination Period when you first trigger your Long-Term Care benefits. This is a period of usually 30-90 days where you must wait to receive your benefits.
After the elimination period has been met, you will start receiving a monthly benefit to help pay for the cost of nursing homes, home health aides, and more. How large your benefit is and how many months it will payout is determined by how the policy was designed.