Crash Course in Long-term Care Insurance

Long-term care insurance is a funny animal.  Statistically more people reading this column are going to need some form of long-term care support than are not.  Look at the person in the Cube next to you.  One of you is going to need long-term care (and there is a good chance both). Unfortunately, neither of you will probably ever buy it.  If you do buy long-term care insurance, it will probably be way too late in life and you’ll get killed on the premiums…

What is it about long-term care insurance that scares the crap out of people?

• Don’t want to think about it? Maybe
• The premiums? Possibly
• Don’t understand the coverage and it’s value? Ding, Ding, Ding!

Long-Term Care Key Term Crash Course

Buy or don’t buy long-term care insurance.  I don’t care, that is your decision.  What I do care about is your ignorance to the product.  I want you to not purchase a long-term care policy because you have weighed your need verses coverage and premium and decided that for you a policy is not prudent. I don’t want you to not purchase a long-term care policy because you don’t have clue what it is, you’ve heard tons of rumors and commercials, and decided its easier to just pretend like it doesn’t exist.

The Terms To Know

The is following list of terms is a 10,000 foot view.  My hope is by slightly increasing your understanding of these basic terms associated with long-term care you will take a step forward and begin contemplate the idea of a policy.

Medicaid – Government assistance program providing long-term care benefits to the applicant.

Medicare – Government assistance program providing skilled care for up to 100 days if certain requirements are met.

Skilled Care – Is provided 24 hours a day by medical personnel, such as registered nurses or professional therapist, for medical conditions, is ordered by a physician and involves some level of treatment.

Intermediate Care – Takes on the same form as Skilled Care but is not required on a daily basis.

Custodial Care – Assistance for people who can no longer take basic care of themselves, including assistance with bathing, eating, dressing, toileting, continence and transferring.

Benefit Trigger – Activates when insured is unable to perform any two of the following six activities in their daily lives:

• Bathing – Ability to bathe oneself
• Eating – Ability to feed oneself
• Dressing – Ability to clothe oneself
• Toileting – Ability to use the toilet and maintain proper associated personal hygiene
• Continence – Ability to control bladder and bowel movements
• Transference – Ability to move oneself in and out of bed.

Cognitive Impairment – Any mental condition requiring substantial supervision to protect the insured’s health and safety.

Nursing Home – Full-time care in a dedicated facility.

Adult Day Care – Community-based, daytime supervision providing social, recreational or health assistance at home or off-site during work hours.

Assisted Living Facility – Residential care setting that provides housing, support and healthcare services for people wanting or needing assistance with activities of daily living.

Home Health Care – skilled or unskilled services at home.

For more information on Long-term care insurance I encourage you to visit LifeHappens.org.  This site has many wonderful resources on Life, Disability, and Long-term care insurance.

Disclaimer:

This article is for informational purposely only. There is no legal advice being suggested or proffered and the author assumes no responsibility or liability for the actions take or not taken by the readers based upon such information.

Thank you,

Ryan H.

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