You Need the Right Level of Long-Term Care Insurance

By Steve Elliott | November 13, 2023 | Comments Off on You Need the Right Level of Long-Term Care Insurance

Many Americans spend the bulk of their working lives investing, saving, and planning for retirement. It’s the golden egg at the end of their long working life, the place they want to reach so they can travel, relax, take on other activities and projects that they put off in their younger years. Unfortunately, many Americans find themselves under-prepared for retirement and have to delay or go back to work in their 70s. Sometimes, it’s because an investment went bad. Other times it’s because they were scammed. Sometimes, it’s because the stock market collapsed and shed tens of thousands of dollars from their 401(k). Sometimes, it’s because the people entrusted with their 401(k) and other investments played dangerous games and, ultimately, lost. And, sometimes it’s because they faced unexpected medical expenses during those golden years of life they could have protected themselves by having long-term care insurance coverage.

What kind of medical expenses could devastate someone’s retirement?

Long-Term Care Insurance Rancho Penasquitos CA - You Need the Right Level of Long-Term Care Insurance

Long-Term Care Insurance Rancho Penasquitos CA – You Need the Right Level of Long-Term Care Insurance

The kind that aren’t covered by their primary insurance or Medicaid or Medicare, if they rely on that during retirement. In many cases, Medicare won’t cover everything, including the entire expenses of prescription medications for those who have savings and assets.

Also, Medicaid doesn’t cover most long-term care options, save one in most states, and doesn’t begin covering it until the individual has exhausted all their resources, which may include the value of their home if they own one.

Too many Americans get to retirement and are completely unprepared for long-term care expenses. They simply assume that the government or their health insurance is going to cover everything. They don’t realize that neither one of those covers long-term care expenses.

How can you be assured your long-term care insurance is enough?

You could have a long-term care insurance policy in place right now, but it may fail you at the worst time in your life, that time during retirement in your late 60s or early 70s, for example.

How could it fail? It might not cover everything you expected. It may be limited. It may only cover you for a few months, at best. There may be a long waiting period before the policy begins to pay out.

Understand this, though, that most long-term care insurance policies will have a waiting period before the policy begins to pay out. It might be 90 days, six months, somewhere in between, or a little bit longer. Think of it like the deductible on your auto insurance. The higher the deductible, the lower the monthly premium. So, you might have a longer waiting period for your policy to begin paying out, but it may reduce your monthly expense on that policy.

What can you handle? If you got a long-term care insurance policy before you really knew much about it, now is the time to revisit and sit down with a licensed and experienced agent or broker and go over every detail. Make sure it covers you for whatever elder care you may need. Make sure it covers your spouse or other legal dependent. And make sure all aspects of the policy makes sense and are reasonable for you now and in the future, when you finally retire.

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

Steve Elliott
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