Long Term Care Insurance - Why

Everyone needs to get serious about long term care insurance.

I am not referring to just Baby Boomers or people in the midst of retirement planning; I mean everyone who is old enough to read this blog.

Individuals are getting wiped out financially and emotionally by long term care every day. People think that youth or a large nest egg can keep this threat at bay, but they could not be more mistaken. Get into a car accident or receive bad news from your doctor, and you may join the millions already suffering in nursing homes throughout every state across our country.

Long term care is defined as ,"the provision of medical, social, and personal care services on a recurring or continuing basis to persons with chronic physical or mental disorders. The care may be provided in environments ranging from institutions to private homes. Long-term care services usually include symptomatic treatment, maintenance, and rehabilitation for patients of all age groups."

Doctors consider long term care to be care that exceeds 90 days with a poor prognosis for recovery or none at all.

Disability insurance replaces your income, but who pays for the people who come in to your home to get you out of bed, bathe, clothe and feed you if your disability is so dire that you cannot do those activities of daily living yourself?

Long term care insurance pays for these caregivers amongst other important services and potential modifications to your home, i.e. support bars in your shower or a wheelchair ramp. These long term care services can cost $40,000 to $100,000 per year depending on where you live. How long can you survive without going bankrupt with out-of-pocket expense that large? If you do file for bankruptcy, do you know where your long term care takes place going forward? A nursing home. Medicaid will start to pay for your long term care once you are completely broke, but they will determine where a bed is available for you. Sometimes, the nearest Medicaid bed can be many miles away from your family.

This could happen to any person alive today. It is not just the elderly who need to learn about long term care and the insurance designed to protect people from it's extreme costs.

A good place to start learning is our long term care insurance website. I look forward to writing more on this critical subject. Please stay tuned.