This is why it is so important to buy long-term care insurance while a family member is healthy.  It can give money for professional care-givers to come to the home, and do the difficult work such as bathing, etc. so that you can enjoy the loved ones, versus the exhaustion of bathing, or more intimate duties. Or, it can pay the $$$$$ a month for a really nice nursing facility.  It depends on what you buy.

Yes, I sell the insurance, although probably not in your state, so don’t worry.   I’m not trying to sell to you!  (Not that you know who I am, anyway, courtesy of the joys of the internet.)  If you are not *very* affluent,  look for your state’s Long Term Care Partnership brand of LTC insurance.  It varies from state to state. It costs more than straight LTC insurance, but protects your house from a lien against it up to the amount of the insurance paid, should you eventually have to go on state medical aid.  (It’s more complex than that, but that’s the simple version, and I err on the side of caution.)

Please, readers, consider long-term care insurance on yourselves to protect your assets, and yourselves, and your children’s inheritance.

I have personal stories I won’t tell.  But, please.  Ask your agent. Long Term Care Insurance is vitally important.

Cheers.

Trying for anonymity

My mother didn’t put her mother in a nursing home until her mother started telling anyone who came to the house that my mother was trying to murder her. So at 90 years of age (after living with my parents for 10 years), the family decided my grandmother had to go to a nursing home. Unfortunately, my grandmother’s dementia then terrorized the staff at the nursing home. As for paying for it, my grandmother had enough in the bank that the interest paid for the nursing home. So finances were not a problem. My grandparents arrived in the U.S. as poor immigrants, but died millionaires (not multi, just one million).

Years ago, I was a Certified Nursing Assistant and Home Health Aide so I saw first hand the differences between home care and long term facility care and it all came down to the quality of life. Some people enjoy the social aspect of long term care and it is an adjustment to make in their lives. Some people were more isolated at home with health care workers providing services. My best experience was working at an assisted living community. People had their independence, as well as other around the clock health care services. I know that these living situations are expensive. If the cost for these communites could be more reasonable, I believe that you would have a happier population of people. People thrive and live longer. Isolation is such a concern for the elderly, it detracts from their spirit. Luckily, my parents lived at home until they passed away. For the most part, they had each other and all us children and grandchildren as constant visitors. I know that isn’t the care for everyone. I feel long term health insurance should take into consideration the quality of one’s life above all.

Before buying Long-Term Health Insurance, find out the down side and you probably won’t buy it.   There was a very revealing article in the NY Times several years ago which swayed my thinking and I would not buy it if U put a gun to my head.  Check it out very carefully before you sign on the dotted line.  What you think you are going to get will probably never come to fruition. Hours on hold to straighten out claims, endless paper work and problems which are rarely resolved are the norm.  The artlice quoted interviewed employees of the companies who sell said insurance who said off the record they were coerced into lying to customers about benefits.  One of the companies was based near Indianapolis, IN.  It was the scariest artilce I have read.                  

I watched both my grandparents pass away in a nursing home facility in their late 90s.  They had 6 children all living in the same city and it became just to impossible to care for them full time at home.  My grandfather fought tooth and nail going into the facility and didn’t really ever let go of his anger until his memory began to go.  I’m thankful that they were surrounded in a great care facility (despite the fact they didn’t have LTCi) with a great staff as well as their children, my aunts and uncles.  But now I sell Long Term Care Insurance because of them.

Tom Mitchell, Long Term Care Specialist