Four Reasons Why So Many People Hate Long Term Care Insurance

So this week I had take twenty four hours of continuing education to renew my California Insurance License.  Included in that continuing education were eight hours on training on Long Term Care Insurance training.  Here’s something I learned:

• 47% of people over 85 have Alzheimer’s which is not covered by health insurance.
• On average they live another eight years with the disease
• The average cost for care in a non-private room is over $72,000 per year

We try REALLY hard to accumulate and protect assets during our lives so that we can live off of them during our later years and then leave them to loved ones or charities.  $72,000 a year for eight years is over $500,000 in today’s dollars…..if this happens in 20-30 years it could cost you 2-3 million dollars. That’s a problem. 

So, why does everybody hate Long Term Care so much?  Here’s why:

1. It’s expensive (hard to pay for monthly or annually)
2. It’s spooky (who wants to talk about not being able to perform the activities of daily living by yourself anyway?)
3. It’s confusing
4. You may not need to use it and would have wasted all that money.

Well, I agree.  But here’s the deal: you probably will be sick for at least a little while before you actually die.  Paying for that out of your accumulated assets could wipe out all the money you have in life.  We probably should protect your assets in all honestly.  And, if you have an inheritance coming you may want to provide LTC for your folks and protect that inheritance and make sure there twilight years are as comfortable as possible. 

So here’s my offer: I can’t take the spooky part away but, if you care more about protecting your assets than that uncomfortable feeling, I can probably show you:

1.      How to afford the premiums

2.      How to understand what you have

3.      How to make sure that if you don’t use the Long Term Care benefits your family will get back every dime of premium you put into the plan. 

There are so many cool options now between Long Term Care Policies, Annuities with Long Term Care Riders, Hybrid Products, Insurance Policies with Long Term Care Riders etc. so it is possible for each one of us to protect our assets and our families. 

If you have every wondered about LTC, or just want to talk, send me an email or give me a call at 619-929-4000.

God bless,

Charlie Jewett

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Tags: Estate Planning, Insurance Planning, Long Term Care, Retirement Planning