Insurance Products
Disability • Life • Annuities • Long Term Care • Critical illness
Long Term Care
With many more Americans living past age 80, the need for long term care is rising, and so is the interest in long term care insurance. Most people assume LTC insurance pays only for nursing home care, but that is inaccurate. Insurers and healthcare providers commonly define long term care as assistance provided to someone with a condition or illness that limits their ability to perform normal daily activities. LTC insurance can also help pay for rehabilitative care, therapeutic care, and various types of assisted care in the home. Your age, the amount of the daily benefit and the length of the deductible (0-180 days) determine your premium. Most LTC policies are indemnity or expense-incurred policies that pay fixed dollar amounts per day, week, or month. You can choose a Daily Benefit Amount when you pay for your LTC coverage, and you can also choose the length of time that you may receive the full Daily Benefit Amount on a daily basis. The DBA typically ranges from a few dozen dollars to hundreds of dollars. Some of these plans offer “inflation protection” at enrollment, meaning that every few years, you will have the chance to buy additional coverage and get compounding –so your pool of money can grow.
Too many people think Medicare will pick up the cost of long term care. Medicare is not long term care insurance. Medicare will only pay for the first 100 days of nursing home care, and only if 1) you are getting skilled care and 2) you go into the nursing home right after a hospital stay of at least 3 days. Medicare also covers limited home visits for skilled care, and some hospice services for the terminally ill.
This type of insurance is absolutely critical as it can help one avoid invading their retirement nest egg to pay for medical expenses. Consider it “portfolio insurance” or “retirement insurance”.
Most important, when considering Long Term Care is to select a program that will allow you to maintain your independence and is flexible enough to give, not only you, but your family a peace of mind that no matter what happens you will be taken care of based on your own personal goals and wishes. In order to do that, we have plans that will allow you to select those coverages which most fit your needs. As examples, if total care is your goal then we offer Asset Based Long Term Care or we have Traditional programs at a lower cost. In order to give you a better feel for the differences between the two programs, we have prepared the Pro's and Con's of each below.
TRADITIONAL LTC PRO'S
1. Cheaper premiums
2. Benefits come in Indemnity and/or Reimbursement forms
3. Insureds can share benefits between spouses if they opt in with specific plans
4. Insured can obtain Inflation Protection
5. No waiting period for cash benefits with specific plans
TRADITIONAL LTC CON'S
1. Possible increase in premium
2. Return of premium is available but only upon death with specifc plans
3. Insured must pay the premiums until the insured goes on claim, dies, or drops the policy
4. Cannot usually use the Indemnity style benefit and the Reimbursement style benefit at the same time if the carrier offers both
5. Only gives the insured one avenue of accessing their benefits and that is through a claim
ASSET BASED LTC PRO'S
1. Our Asset Based LTC options give the insured the opportunity to access their benefits through 3 avenues. A Long Term Care benefit, a Life Insurance benefit, and a Return of Premium option
2. Benefits come in Indemnity or Reimbursement forms
3. Insured only pays premium for a specified amount of time and then being completely paid up
4. Premiums cannot increase at any time with the plans that we offer.
5. Insured can obtain Inflation Protection
6. Benefits can roll over from month to month with specific plans
ASSET BASED LTC CON'S
1. Usually more expensive than traditional plans
2. Usually the Insured cannot switch between Indemnity and Reimbursement, must choose one