A Solid Financial Plan Should Include Long-Term Care Insurance

By Steve Elliott | October 18, 2022 | Comments Off on A Solid Financial Plan Should Include Long-Term Care Insurance

October is Financial Planning Month and whenever you are sitting down to go over your financial future, your retirement, or even how you are going to put your kids through college when you are moving through your 40s or 50s, every plan should at least include discussions about long-term care insurance.

Long-Term Care Insurance Oceanside CA - A Solid Financial Plan Should Include Long-Term Care Insurance

Long-Term Care Insurance Oceanside CA – A Solid Financial Plan Should Include Long-Term Care Insurance

You might not be thinking about any type of senior home care at this stage in your life. Even if you have an aging parent or even a grandparent who might be struggling with certain tasks at home, the topic the senior home care may never come up.

However, as people get older in the United States, there is an increasing chance that they will need some type of long-term care in the future. Most people have no idea how much that costs.

Plus, a growing majority of Americans assume Medicaid is going to cover long-term care expenses. What they fail to realize, though, is that after they have reached the official retirement age where Medicare and Medicaid kick in, they would need to use up all of their available assets, including their savings, before Medicaid begins covering long-term care expenses.

Now, how much does long-term care costs?

That depends on the type of care. A nursing home in Alaska, for example, could run you more than $300,000. That means $300,000 each year. Imagine having to pay for a loved one, such as your spouse, to spend 1 ½ years in a nursing home. You are looking at $450,000.

That’s with this year’s rate. Inflation is skyrocketing and the cost of long-term care will likely go right along with it.

By the time you retire in 10 or 15 or 20 or even 30 years, the cost of nursing home care in Alaska might very well be over half a million dollars. For most people, that would wipe them out completely within one or two years, if not faster than that. Remember, the assets you hold that the federal government would require you to use up before Medicaid covers those expenses would include your primary residence.

What if you never need long-term care, why have long-term care insurance?

That would be the best possible scenario. You could live out the rest of your days, go through your Golden years, travel, pursue hobbies and arts and crafts and do everything you want and never need any type of long-term care. That would be wonderful.

But, what if you do need it? What if you or your spouse or another dependent requires long-term care? What if your spouse was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or a different type of dementia? What if you are involved in an automobile accident in your late 60s or 70s that left you critically injured, in a coma for months, and then spending more than two years trying to recover?

Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring, but long-term care insurance can help you reduce the financial pain and suffering that could be added to your family in the event something tragic like that happens.
Any financial plan worth its salt should at least discuss long-term care insurance.

If you or a loved one are considering Long-Term Care Insurance in Oceanside CA, please contact Steve Elliott at Capstone Insurance for an honest discussion about your future and your options. Call today (858) 350-3161.

Steve Elliott
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