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The interest in long term care insurance has been rising as more Americans are living past age 80.
Yet, a 2006 AARP study noted that most Americans surveyed were underestimating the rising costs of LTC, and presupposing that government programs would provide adequate assistance.
The different care options.
Most people assume LTC insurance pays only for nursing home care, but that is inaccurate.
Insurers and healthcare providers commonly define long term care as assistance provided to someone with a condition or illness that limits their ability to perform normal daily activities.
LTC insurance can also help pay for rehabilitative care, therapeutic care, and various types of assisted care in the home.
The financial relief.
The cost for one year of care in a nursing facility? What would you guess? What, $40-50,000? Think more.
A survey conducted by MetLife back in 2004 found that the average annual cost of nursing home care was $70,080 per year, and that the average cost of a home health aide was $18/hour.
(Costs were cheapest in the South.
) Given these costs - rising at approximately 6% per year - insurance and investment professionals urge their clients to look into LTC policies.
Premiums and choices.
Your age, the amount of the daily benefit and the length of the deductible (0-180 days) determine your premium.
Today, many LTCi policies are expense-related policies with fixed dollar benefits generally paying monthly.
Integrated or pooled-benefit policies allow you to assign percentages of your benefit to pay for different types of LTC services.
Most LTCi benefits are inflation-adjusted; however, this does not ensure that they will cover all LTC expenses.
(Some standard life insurance policies also offer LTC benefits; ask for your insurance agent for the details on your policy.
) What will Medicare do? Not much.
Medicare will generally not pay for most nursing home care let alone pay for at-home long term care.
The spenddown of your assets is generally required before Medicare will pay for any skilled nursing care or home health care.
If you have questions about long term care insurance or face oncoming or immediate long term care issues, be sure to talk with a qualified insurance or investment professional today who can tell you about your options in LTC coverage.
Indiana Partnership.
Indiana has a very special state sponsored plan called a Partnership Plan.
Indiana's Partnership Plan is designed to allow for protection of an individual's assets and still provide protection through Medicaid.
Without this element an individual is usually required to spend most to all of their assets before coverage starts.
Indiana residents should be sure to research this type of policy with a licensed planner.
Copyright (c) 2008 Bryan Laverman
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