Can You Afford Long-Term Care If You Skip Long-Term Care Insurance?
It might make sense if you’re struggling financially at the moment to not even consider long-term care insurance. If you’re in your 30’s and 40’s, raising a family, that’s usually not a problem. While nobody knows what tomorrow will bring, the odds of becoming involved in an accident or other mishap that suddenly requires long-term care is much lower than if you were in your 60’s or 70’s.
If you are in your late 40’s or 50’s, though, and have not honestly considered long-term care insurance -for whatever reason- you should sit down and figure out if you will be able to afford long-term care in the future, if it becomes necessary.
How much will long-term care cost?
Let’s say, for example, you’re 55. You and your spouse have been married for 30 years. You’ve raised children and now they are off to college or building their own careers and raising their own families. You feel in good health and perhaps a recent physical from your doctor affirmed that.
It’s a wonderful feeling to have, and you probably aren’t even remotely thinking about long-term care, but let’s say 15 years from now, when you’re 70, you have a major medical emergency. It might be a heart attack or stroke.
For the sake of argument, let’s say it was a stroke. You may have an extended recovery process that could go on for many months, possibly even a couple of years. Perhaps this medical emergency was so serious you had to be in a nursing home for almost 2 years, going through a long, difficult, and frustratingly slow recovery process.
How much would that cost? On average today a nursing home might cost $85,000 per year. In some states the average cost is over $100,000. With inflation, including an increase in cost due to supply and demand economics, the average expense for a year of nursing home care might be well over $120,000, or more.
Then, once you return home you might need around-the-clock care for a few months until you’re able to better take care of yourself. Before you know it, the cost of long-term care could exceed a quarter of a million dollars, easily.
Will you be able to afford that? If so, if you could pay that without a second thought, without blinking an eye, then you should be fine. If, however, you’re like the majority of Americans, you won’t be able to, so you need to seriously consider long-term care insurance.
If you or a loved-one are considering Long-Term Care Insurance Cost in San Marcos CA, please contact Steve Elliott at Capstone Insurance for an honest discussion about your future and your options. Call today (858) 350-3161.
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