Long-Term Care Insurance.
Does your retirement plan make any provisions toward long-term care? To date, only 8 million Americans have purchased long-term care insurance. Many people who look into long-term care insurance are surprised at the cost of the annual premium, although the high cost of care can wipe out a family’s resources in a couple of years. We are the Cafro Agency, and we can answer your questions about insuring your future. The number of Americans age 85 and older is growing more quickly than the rest of the population. While medical advancements may be increasing our life expectancy, this increases our chance of requiring long-term care at some point on in our lives. The problem is that long-term care costs thousands of dollars per month, and it isn’t covered by Medicare or health insurance. Until your family is faced with the dilemma of a debilitating condition, you just don’t know what this can cost you in the short or long term. Three of the most common conditions that require long-term care generally occur later in life: cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke. Fall injuries are also a major cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries in people over 65, and can lead to admission in a skilled nursing facility.
While some patients won’t require a long stay in long-term care, roughly half of long-term care patients will require a stay that’s over one year, and out of those patients requiring more than a year of care, the average period of time requiring care is nearly four years. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 70% of people turning 65 this year will require long-term care in the future. Can you beat those odds?
The fact is that neither health insurance, Social Security, nor Medicare will pay for costs and services associated with recuperation or assistance in daily life. Personal care or custodial care describes eating, bathing, dressing, and daily monitoring. Until you or a loved one becomes disabled, you wouldn’t know that the cost of care in Connecticut may average $400 per day. The average stay in a nursing facility in Connecticut is 2.5 years. Another sobering statistic: 20% of Americans will require long-term care that lasts more than 5 years.
A Long-term care insurance policy is a product that helps pay for care when individuals are unable to perform two of the six activities of daily living, such as dressing, bathing, eating, walking, transferring, continence, or using the toilet. Be advised that once a change of health occurs, long-term care insurance may not be available. People of all ages may need long-term care. It may be wise to begin shopping for LTCI in middle age as part of an overall retirement plan to protect assets from the high costs and burdens of extended health care. Only about 8 million Americans have purchased long-term care insurance.
A plan to provide for long-term care is critical to any retirement strategy. It’s important to begin planning early, since long-term care insurance premiums increase after the age of 50. Annual premiums for long-term care insurance plans can vary, and they depend on age, health, and coverage. Considering the average length of stay in a Connecticut nursing facility is 2.5 years and the daily expense averages $400 per day, it’s cost-prohibitive for the unprepared.
The senior population is expected to nearly double by the year 2040. The majority of these seniors will require some form of long-term custodial care that can be provided in a home or institutional setting. How to finance the provision of high-quality services so that the costs are manageable for families and governments will remain a primary challenge. You or a loved may need to prepare for long-term care, yet don’t know where to turn. Talk to the experts at Cafro Agency Insurance and get your questions answered. Call 860-779-DAVE for a consultation today.