Understanding long term health care insurance policies is not as easy as you probably think and yet it is critical that you do understand them.
Everything is becoming more expensive and nothing is more expensive than the financial risks faced at retirement. Anyone who has been watching the US financial meltdown can testify to that. 401Ks and IRA’s have lost trillions of dollars and now retirees are not only cashing smaller retirement checks but less likely to consider long term health care as a protection. I’d like to suggest that this is a mistake especially if you are married. (If you’ve read the guide and watched the videos you know exactly why I’m saying this.)
Most people consider long term care an issue for the elderly. This is not so. Attorney General Janet Reno is not ancient but has Parkinson’s. Christopher Reeves was, if memory serves, in his 40’s when he had his accident that left him paralyzed. Long term care is not place but rather a health event that changes your life forever. And it is a very expensive health event because it requires care over time.
Hopefully you’ll live a long and healthy life and have simply marvelous golden years but if you want to be prepared learn how to make long-term care insurance work to your advantage. Don’t make the mistake of counting on Medicaid. Medicaid does cover some long-term care expenses but you have to be drawing you last breath or totally broke to qualify. On top of that your neighborhood HMOs, Medicare, and Medigap won’t help much either.
What are the top top 3 things you can do right now to prepare for the possibility of living longer than you thought, suffering a health problem and then running out of money?
The first thing to do is to eat more vegetables. What? Hey, the healthier you are the better chance you have of not getting sick. And while you’re at it maybe forgo the parachute jump. Get with it by getting fit, cleaning up your diet, kicking the smokes and drinking red wine instead (you can live with that right?) One of the enemies of aging is the old, tired body. Use it or lose it.
The second thing you need to do is make a lot of money. Did I say a lot of money? Oh, I meant a ton of money! When you have enough money little will dent your life or lifestyle; but remember if you’re married your risk of long term care increases. (If you haven’t read the guide now might be a good time.) If you haven’t got a ton of money just make sure you take care of what you do have and consider insuring it. Insuring your money? That’s number three.
Number three is consider insuring your retirement income with long term health care insurance. LTC insurance, while it may look like insurance, is really income insurance and is critical for couples. While you may never have a long term need your spouse could and you’ll be left writing the checks. While your spouses health goes down your financial independence will go down with it. And if you think you can take care of everything yourself…..well, good luck. Most women are not physically able to care for a man - especially when their body is old and as for men, well, I’ll let you ruminate on that yourself.
Long term care insurance is really retirement income insurance but it doesn’t have to break you. In the guide Insider’s Secrets to Long Term Care Insurance and accompanying videos you can learn how to structure plans correctly and save literally thousands on the life of your policy.
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