Posted on 09/12/2013 4:21:01 PM PDT by mojo114
Considering purchase of Long Term Care insurance.
After 50 plus years of smoking, I have emphasema ... just a matter of time.
https://www.google.com/#q=actuarial+table+for+long+term+care+annuities
I think you’ll find that the price starts low but gets higher and higher so that you’ve dropped it when you’re most likely to need it. That’s what we found when we ran the numbers for my sister.
Unless you have special circumstances I’d say invest the money and rely on the sale of the investment to cushion your final days.
Long Term Care is an excellent form of insurance. The odds are much greater that someone will make a claim on an LTC policy than a Life Insurance policy.
Save the money and invest and then pay for it yourself. First of all you only get a certain amount per month from the insurance company and then you pay the rest.......they really don’t take into account inflation. Invest your own money....everyone wants us to for Social Security. Why should this be any different. You will be better off saving and then paying for it out of pocket.
CT has a special program ... allows u to protect more assets
www.connecticutpartnershiponly.com
much better value (30% less premium) if you buy thru an employer ... could be your spouses employer or even children or son=in-law employer. yes.
Long Term Care policies come with compound inflation riders.
I've been everywhere I want to go, done everything I want to do, no spouse, no dependents, no pets, no houseplants, no debt, no real estate, and by the time that happens, no assets - I hope.
2 out of 3 people over the age of 65 will require some type of custodial care in their lifetime. Last year I purchased an IUL which can be used for long term care. It is like Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry, how lucky do you think you will be? In my parents case they had long term policies, and passed away without using them. My in-laws did not have policies, my father in-law would have not used it. My mother in-law will soon run out of medicare supplement nursing home coverage and will be paying out of pocket.
Ask yourself if you'd invest the money in this market, knowing what you know about the trillion dollar a year Fed "stimulus."
Thanks, checked the chart.
The policy we are looking at isn’t an annuity. It pays out a certain amount a month for however months we select. For example we would choose 6 years, $6,000/month.
Medicaid will not pay for long-term care until you are essentially bankrupt. I won't put that risk on my wife, so we have long-term care policies.
You get a substantial discount if both spouses get a policy at the same time. If you get it at an earlier age, while you are still healthy, the premium will be much affordable. If you wait until you are sick, it will be much more difficult -- if not almost impossible.
Make sure you get an inflation factor. And, if your state has a Medicaid partnership program, Medicaid will pick up the remaining expenses your long-term care policy doesn't cover. But, the policy must meet certain criteria.
Thanks Pete, checking it out now.
“The policy we are looking at isn’t an annuity.’
Whatever policy it is, it’s still run by the actuarial table. If you’re female and 43 you go to that table and it tells you when you will likely need it. By the time you get to that period, I think you won’t be able to afford the policy.
If you buy, it is always better to buy with a compound inflation rider. Most states require the plans to offer them. It massively increases the benefit so the plan is worth much more than it was when you first bought.
Also, the premiums are not guaranteed. Even though your rates are based on your age, the company can lobby it it’s Dept. of Insurance for rate increases based on losses. Most people do experience a rate increase somewhere along the line. Still, it is based on the age you bought it so the rate increase based on that age group.
I looked at it and so did a friend
I am putting my money into my kids, one or two in particular who will inherit the bulk of my estate in return for taking care of me. I am an old parent and they are young kids and it will be a benefit to them.
My friend would be pounding 1500 a month into the policy, she has a daughter who will help her out. So she is putting the money towards the daughter and her family.
Why pay corporations if you don’t have to?
“Medicaid will not pay for long-term care until you are essentially bankrupt.”
Precisely why we are looking into the policy. Many of our friends parents used every cent they saved and the money from sale of property to pay for nursing home care.
1. On the one hand, you might want to get it while you can because I understand some carriers are slowly getting out of the LTC insurance business.
2. I have serious concerns about the viability of the whole LTC insurance industry, since I expect that claims related to long-term care will overwhelm carriers just like Social Security and Medicare are facing insolvency.
also, in CT, married couples:
spouse who remains in community, can keep house, over $100,000 in assets, plus substantial income. So some long term care planning must be done first ... The widowed survivor ultimately faces the real risk as they must bankrupt themselves ...
the 60 months of a LTC policy allow one to re-arrange assets to children and trusts for surviving spouse, etc. You still have to get things out of your name in anticipation of the policy running out of benefits.
$300 per day, $150 for assisted living, works well in CT.
So much mis-information. Don’t rely on your friends and neighbors for your financial advice. Find a professional. Some of you will accept information from the un-informed as gospel because your afraid to talk to a professional who might “sell you something”.
Odds of death 100%, odds of Long Term Care needs 70%. If you can afford it do both, if you can’t get the life insurance. If you are counting on the govt to fund your long term care, just go visit a nursing home that accepts medicaid clients and see if that is how you wish to spend your final days after you spent every dime you had paying privatly before medicaid would pay.
Medicare will only pay up to 100 days. Partnership programs are available in many states if your state has it, again, ask a professional who knows, not your brother-in-law.
Time to take responsibilty for yourself, do your research, don’t be afraid to learn. Lot more I could say . . .
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