Did you know that your long term care decisions might be just as important as your investment choices?

Deciding how you will pay for care in the event of a long-term illness, accident or disability may be one of the most important options you could add to your financial planning portfolio.

Long Term Care Insurance provides the resources to help when you or a family member can no longer function independently.


Long Term Care Insurance Helps to Long Term Care Insurance Helps You With Long Term Care Provides Coverage At
  • Maintain independence and dignity.
  • Maintain quality of life.
  • Protect your life's savings.
  • Provide your assets to your heirs.
  • Personal care and nursing care
  • Bathing and dressing
  • Medications and care review
  • Therapeutic and rehabilitative care
  • Your home
  • An adult day care center
  • A nursing facility
  • A residential care facility
  • An assisted living facility














Is Long Term Care Right For You?

The average annual cost for care in a private nursing home is about $66,000, a sum that would quickly deplete almost anyone's assets. One good way to protect yourself is to purchase a long-term care insurance policy, just in case.

Essentially, long-term care insurance pays for extended care either in a nursing home or by a health-care professional in a person's own home. Benefits generally become available when the insured person cannot perform one or more activities of daily living, such as bathing and dressing.

Do you need Long Term Care Insurance?
Neither Medicare nor standard health insurance pays more than a small amount, if anything at all, for long-term care. Medicaid will pay, but only if your income and assets don't exceed the modest amounts set by the government.

Some people are able to "self insure." To understand how this works, consider Mary and Al, a hypothetical couple. When they retired at age 65, Al had a pension from his employer, as well as an individual retirement account (IRA). Mary had the money she'd put away in her employer's retirement savings plan. During the early years of their retirement, they lived comfortably on Al's pension and IRA and saved Mary's retirement account for future medical care, if necessary.

Several years later, Al had to enter a nursing home. Mary's assets covered his two-year stay in the home. However, if the couple had not had Mary's retirement account to draw on to pay for Al's care, they would have been forced to use income Mary needed for her living expenses to pay for Al's care.

The bottom line: Unless you have sufficient assets that you won't need for other retirement needs, you should consider buying long-term care insurance.



For More Information
Contact a financial service professional at 800-444-1974 to discuss how a long term care insurance policy will benefit you.