With less than a million dollars in assets, you will have to start making concrete long term care (LTC) plans lest you be subjected to the ordeal of the foreboded rate increase on various LTC facilities. According to financial analysts, 70% of the country’s population that is comprised of individuals aged 65 years old and older will be paying twice of the current cost of nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home care in 2026. Unfortunately, they’re up for another hitch in 2030 when LTC rates start to soar fourfold. One can never be sure when the prices of care giving services and facilities will turn stable so the only thing he can do is prepare for it. Unfortunately, not everybody is sold to the idea of securing an insurance policy for LTC. Some believe that they can self-insure using their assets, others have resorted to reverse mortgage, while a bigger percentage still believe that they can lean on Medicaid alone. If one tries to think realistically, he would realize that the best option would be to buy an LTC insurance policy because you don’t lose anything with this. Many people who are getting close to retirement admitted that they have actually considered buying an LTCI policy but when the thought of not getting to use their policy benefits in the future strikes them, they realize it’s just going to be a waste of their hard-earned money. Perhaps, if you would condition your mind that purchasing LTC insurance is compulsory in America, then you might just treat it the same way you would your car insurance and home insurance policies for these are mandatory under the law. Unfortunately, having the choice to buy an insurance policy for long term care or not is what leaves many of today’s aging folks without an absolute plan for their future. They live in the fantasy that the government will shoulder all their health care and medical expenses someday. It seems that no amount of articles or news reports on the current situation of Medicaid and other government funded health programs footing the nation’s LTC expenses can alarm the growing population of retirees. Not even the predictions of financial advisers and insurance firms on the soaring rates of LTC and premium hikes have set alarm bells ringing. Perhaps, these baby boomers will only listen to the people whom they communicate and interact with everyday. Their children, wives or husbands can convince them of the importance of having an LTCI policy. When it’s the people that we love and care for doing the talking, we’re left with no choice but to listen. We definitely would not want to offend them by brushing off their opinion and suggestions. If you have a parent or a spouse who’s among the projected 70 million elderly folks who will require long term care 20 years down the road, your opinion matters to them so advise them properly without exactly dictating what they should do. Sigfried Metz writes for CompleteLongTermCare.com, an online resource of LTCi articles, including details on long term care insurance premiums, LTCi costs, quotes, CLASS Act provisions and many others.
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