We all learn from a young age one hard, inevitable truth. We will all grow old. There are some benefits though. It’s socially acceptable to not give one care anymore and suede tracksuits are acceptable to wear again. Growing old is just part of life and with that comes a few things that are important to think about and it’s all things that are a good idea to do when you’re young. One of the biggest ones is long-term care.
With nursing home and assisted care in parts of the country costing as much as $10,000 a month, a long-term need for care can deplete even the best-planned estate. As a result, many people buy long-term care insurance to cover this risk. There’s a great advantage of this insurance that most policies now cover home care and assisted living care as well as nursing home care, causing some insurance agents to describe it as “avoid nursing home insurance”. Unfortunately, the long-term care insurance industry is still relatively young and continues to experience growing pains. Until Congress began regulating the industry as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, many of the policies were poor, containing stipulations to coverage that could make them unavailable just when it was needed.
Though long-term care is usually targeted at the elderly, but that is not it’s only use. If you’re out of work for an extended period of time, long-term care could help supplement an income while you are out of commission. The key to most things in health insurance is not to wait till you’re old to make the decision to buy it. Sometimes by then, your health is at risk which could cause extremely high premiums and depending on health conditions, could even render you un-insurable. The best thing to do is to plan and buy when you’re young. Premiums are low and health is good.
If you have questions about your insurance, ask your agent. If they can’t help ECI is always here. Contact us.
