Things to Know About Long-Term Care and Insurance That Can Help Cover It
Most Americans don’t know very much about long-term care. They never look into it until somebody they know or themselves needs it. There are a variety of long-term elder care options out there, including in-home care, nursing home care, and assisted living. Long-term care insurance can help cover a significant portion of these expenses for up to three years in many cases. Each policy is different, so it’s important to speak with an experienced agent or broker to discuss options for you or those you love and about the long-term care insurance cost.
To start, though, let’s talk about a few things many Americans simply don’t realize about long-term care until the need is immediate and pressing.
Demand is growing.
With the baby boomer generation retiring, and with people living longer, it’s placing increased demands on long-term care services. With increased demand comes an increase in price. It’s getting more expensive to rely on long-term care.
That is across the board, including in-home care, assisted living, and nursing home care. Not only will prices increase, but availability is also going to diminish. Even though the demand for various forms of senior care has been on the rise for years, the industry as a whole is struggling to find reliable, dependable workers to fill those positions.
That is placing increased pressure on elderly men and women and their families to find adequate or sufficient elder care.
Medicaid will not cover long-term care until…
… The aging senior who needs it has used up all of their available savings and other assets. These assets could include the equity in their primary home if they own it. In other words, a lot of people falsely assume that once they’re 67 or beyond the official retirement age according to the federal government (by the time they reach that age) that Medicaid and Medicare are going to cover these long-term care expenses.
It won’t, not until a senior has exhausted all their assets and savings first paying for it themselves. On top of that, most private health insurance plans only cover short-term care, leaving seniors to cover those expenses out-of-pocket.
Long-term care insurance is a solution, but you need a plan for long-term care insurance cost too.
People don’t simply turn 75, for example, experience a medical emergency or serious disability and then qualify for long-term care insurance. Even at 65, many seniors could find it cost-prohibitive or even impossible to qualify for a long-term care insurance plan.
That’s why you need to plan ahead. In the same way that many Americans invest in their retirement during their working years, they need to think about the prospect of long-term care in the future. As the cost of care increases year after year, it’s going to place increased pressure on seniors and their families to cover these expenses in the event it’s required.
Long-term care insurance can be reasonably affordable for people in their 50s and 60s, but they need to have a plan, think rationally about it, and realize that even though they may have a perfectly clean bill of health right now, anything can happen tomorrow.
If you or a loved one are considering Long-Term Care Insurance Cost in Rancho Bernardo CA, please contact Steve Elliott at Capstone Insurance for an honest discussion about your future and your options. Call today at (858) 350-3161.
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