Long Term Care Insurance

What is Long Term Care Insurance and Asset Preservation?

Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI) is a form of insurance developed specifically to cover the costs of Long Term Care services, most of which are not covered by traditional medical insurance plans or Medicare.These benefits include services in your home such as assistance with activities of daily living (ADL’s) ie. eating, dressing, bathing, toileting, continence and transferring. Also, this coverage is designed to pay for services and care in a variety of facility and community settings.

There are a myriad of reasons why one would want to procure this type of coverage. The protection could help insure that your monthly retirement income stream will not be diverted to a home health care agency or long term care facility. People purchase LTCI because they are aware of the devastating effect this has on the emotional, physical and financial well being of family and friends.

There are essentially four factors that determine the cost of Long Term Care policies: age, health, amount of benefit and length of benefit period. In recent years, the number of carriers in the marketplace have declined due to economic factors as well as poor claims experience. There are still several quality carriers available as well as ways of funding these types of policies. There are life insurance policies on the market that have policy riders attached to them that create a pool of money for benefits. Like all insurance, the best advice is to get the information you need to make an informed decision.

November is Long Term Care Awareness Month!