The decision to purchase long-term care insurance can be a difficult one. Determining when the time to buy is right can be critical. If you wait too long, existing medical problems may exclude you. Protecting your assets, as well as your choice of care when the time comes is vital. Learn more about long-term care insurance options available in the Washington areas of Kennewick, Richland, Pasco, Yakima and other surrounding areas at http://simplyltcbenefits.com.

Should You Buy Long-Term Care Insurance?
Factors to consider when examining your options for long-term medical care

As life expectancy increases, so do the costs associated with aging, especially when seniors need help with daily tasks like dressing or eating. A 2011 MetLife survey shows that the national average cost for a home health aide was $21,840 annually, while a private room in a nursing home cost $87,235 per year in 2011.

According to Department of Health and Human Services, close to 70 percent of people over age 65 need long-term care, which can include care in a nursing home or assisted living facility, or home health aides to assist with daily activities like bathing or meal preparation.

For low-income individuals, Medicaid covers costs such as nursing home care in a Medicaid-approved facility. But those who have sizable assets would need to transfer assets or spend them down before qualifying for Medicaid.

Medicare covers certain medical needs, but not day-to-day activities like dressing, bathing, or using the bathroom. “There are very few pieces of long-term care that involve medical treatment,” explains Steven Weisbart, senior vice president and chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute, a nonprofit consumer education organization. “If you need help taking your medicine, Medicare would tend to pay for that sort of thing. But helping you take a shower in the morning? That’s not a medical activity.”

If your life insurance policy offers an accelerated death benefit, that would allow you to use some of your life insurance money while you’re still alive to cover long-term care costs. Long-term care insurance is another way to cover those costs, and it’s especially appealing to those with assets they want to protect instead of spending them down to qualify for Medicaid. “In essence, you’re insuring your bequest to your heirs,” says Gerard Wedig, healthcare economist and associate professor of business administration at the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester.

In fact, the only people who should be buying long-term care insurance are those with assets over $50,000, according to Sandy Praeger, Kansas insurance commissioner and chair of the National Association of Insurance Commissioner (NAIC)’s Health Insurance and Managed Care Committee. “If you have assets below $50,000, you’ll spend those assets down rather quickly,” she explains.

In addition to protecting assets, long-term care insurance affords more choice about whether you move into a nursing home or assisted living facility or stay at home. Long-term care policies can cover home care, while Medicaid generally does not.

Continue reading from http://money.usnews.com…

10 Things Medicare Won’t Tell You
The government’s massive entitlement program is full of costly glitches.

7. “We don’t cover a lot of the care seniors need most.”

If your aging mother needs full-time care in a nursing home or a significant amount of home health care, she will have to meet some strict criteria to make it happen. For the most part, Medicare doesn’t pay for nursing home care except for people who were hospitalized for at least three days within the previous 30 days and require “skilled” care, which is care that only a medical professional like a registered nurse could provide. Even then, it only covers up to 100 days per benefit period.

Qualifying to get reimbursement for home health care is also difficult, as you must meet all of following criteria: Be homebound (which means that a doctor has advised you not to leave home due to your condition, that leaving home takes considerable effort or you need help like special transportation to leave home); require skilled nursing care, physical therapy, speech-language pathology services or continued occupation therapy; and be getting regular services from your doctor under a plan of care that he or she has ordered. Medicare does not cover meals delivered to a home, cleaning and laundry services or, in most cases, personal care like help bathing, dressing and using the bathroom. “A lot of people don’t realize it but these kinds of care are very limited,” says Muralidharan. A spokesperson for CMS notes that the organization wants to engage with members of Congress, aging/disabled community members and experts to “explore solutions to the nation’s long term care needs.”

This gap in Medicare coverage can be financially devastating for many families. The average nursing home, for example, costs about $77,000 per year, according to a study by the MetLife Mature Market Institute. Home health care is also expensive, with rates ranging from about $17 to almost $30 per hour, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, significantly more for a trained nurse or therapist.

Read more from www.smartmoney.com…

So why not take on some of the risk and pay for 20-40% of our extended care costs should we need it, and let the insurance company pick up the majority?

Yet today, as SMART Money has described, many are failing to take any insurance to protect themselves after getting “sticker-shocked” at the premiums that are covering them 100%!

We don’t expect our health insurance to cover 100%, yet we still cover that risk for the hospital, testing, docters, etc.  Yet somehow we expect our Long-Term Care insurance to pay 100% and don’t like the premium that comes out.

As I have spoken to many care facilities locally in the Tri-Cities, having some LTC insurance is better than none, when extended care is crucial.  The facilities seem to agree that they can begin to work a plan of care for the family member when there is a LTC policy to make a claim on.

Read More from Long-Term-Care Insurance is Better Than None at smartmoney.com.

For Long-Term-Care Insurance in Eastern Washington, contact me HERE.