Pluses & Minuses

Consider Life With LTC Insurance

Purchasing LTC insurance will cost you money and there is a chance that you may pay for coverage you never need. However, investing in a policy will provide you with:

• Peace of mind knowing that you have a resource if care is needed.
• Plans that will provide reimbursement (or cash up front if you selected that option) to cover the enormous expenses associated with home health care or care in a facility.
• Access to quality care and private pay facilities that will be more secure rather than potentially having to depend on providers that accept Welfare reimbursement.
• Financial resources that will reduce the burden and emotional wear on family members.
• Preservation of assets to support the surviving spouse or to leave to heirs, a favorite church or charity.
• Policy options that will refund your premium should you never need care, are now available. (subject to state availability)

In the words of nationally known personal finance columnist Terry Savage, “You insure your home against fire and your car against an accident and never complain if that money is wasted. Why not insure against one of the most expensive realities of life, long term care? As our lives lengthen and new treatments are developed, you or your parents are more likely to require some type of senior care.”*
*moneycentral.msn.com (2008)

Consider Life Without LTC Insurance

Not purchasing LTC insurance may save you money. In fact, you may save $200 per month (based
on the cost of an average LTC plan purchased at 60) If you are fortunate enough not to need care, this money can accumulate for your heirs or you can spend it.

• You will depend on your own resources to arrange for care. A spouse or adult children or a friend will need to contact government agencies or use the “Yellow Pages” to coordinate and find the quality of care you desire.
• You will need to write personal checks for home health care in a facility. The money you saved not buying LTC insur ance could quickly be spent on the expenses of home health care in a facility.
• If the need for care lasts for an extended period, your life savings could be depleted leaving one spouse impoverished or nothing to leave your heirs, church or favorite charity.
• If your life savings is spent caring for one spouse, the surviving spouse would need to depend on Medicaid (Welfare) for care.

In fifteen years, a 2-year nursing home stay is projected to cost over $230,000 – How would these costs affect you? Would a policy help you stay at home longer?