Because long-term care coverage is a relatively new insurance product, many potential policy holders don’t know what questions to ask or what bargaining points to leverage to balance affordability with comprehensive terms. With some research and careful negotiation, however, long-term care coverage carries a number of advantages:
– protects existing assets and provides a hedge against debt later in life
– frees existing funds to go toward quality of life
– guarantees that the person insured decides the level of care and how it will be handled
– shields loved-ones from life as a full-time caregiver or from making difficult decisions about living arrangements
In seeking affordable long-term care coverage, customers should weigh all the following options and factors before agreeing to a policy.
Shared Care
These policies allow married couples to split the provided benefits. They may include riders that will lower the premium in the event of the death of one partner and “piggyback” provisions, which let one spouse use another’s unused benefits during a coverage year.
Inflation Protection
Ideally, premiums stay the same and benefits go up each year. Some coverage allows policy holders to buy stepped-up care each year rather than allowing the increase to process automatically. Be careful! Don’t get into a situation where benefits are frozen if increases are not purchased.
Medical Determination
These policies place the decision to activate long-term care in the hands of the doctor, sparing the family from emotional decisions that can make the transition much harder on the elder.
Remaining At Home
Be sure the coverage allows for in-home care for such items as physical modifications, buying assistance devices, and hiring health care staff. At the same time, however, take care that the benefits will transfer or can be re-negotiated if care in a facility becomes necessary.
Life Insurance with Long-Term Care Option
This type of coverage is growing in popularity for its affordability and flexibility. The policy allows the holder to convert the accrued value for use to finance long-term care. If the care isn’t required, the heirs still benefit from the life insurance.
By taking the time to understand the options and language of long-term care policies, the coverage can be purchased at affordable rates and with terms that allow individuals to exercise control over their own destiny to the end of their life. Without such coverage, the elderly are often forced to accept decisions made for them by loved ones or medical personnel. Automobile and homeowners policies are common, every day facts of life. Why should managing the risk of losing independence in old age be less important or more expensive?