Long Term Care Insurance

Long Term Care Insurance is designed to provide benefits to individuals for extended care due to an inability to perform certain activities of daily living or cognitive impairment (such as Alzheimer's) . These type of benefits are typically not covered a traditional health insurance or Medicare policy. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 70 percent of individuals over age 65 will require at least some type of LTC services in their lifetime. 

Why You May Need Long-Term Care Insurance

• The cost of full-time or even part time care can be very expensive and these policies can help cover the cost of care if you need assistance with daily living activities.
• Medical Insurance and Medicare are very limited in what they cover for assisting living or skilled nursing facilities.
• With improved medicine and science the general population is generally living longer, but may need assistance to continue to do so resulting in overall.

Types of Long Term Care Coverage

• Traditional LTC Coverage
  • These policies are typically just annual policies that are renewable on a year by year basis that only pay if you ever need assistance with day-to-day activities such as bathing, dressing, eating, etc. There is typically a waiting period before the benefit starts with a maximum benefit that could be potentially be paid out to cover the cost of care. The premiums for these policies are not guaranteed past one year and the market has been unstable over a lengthy period causing many insurance companies to drop out of the long term care business all together.

• Hybrid Long Term Care Policy
  • A newer and more flexible type of long term care coverage is a life insurance policy with a long term care rider that provides a combination of life insurance with an accelerated benefit in the case you qualify for long term care. These types of policies can cost a little bit more because of the flexibility, but can also be a great benefit because they can guarantee a life insurance benefit in case you never actually need long term care.