Long-Term Care Insurance

If you’ve been considering LTC Insurance please continue to read. First, don’t think of it solely as “nursing home insurance.” Although this insurance can be applied towards the costs associated with assisted-living or skilled-nursing facilities, modern LTC policies can pay benefits to help keep you in your own home for as long as possible. Thereby, this insurance can help you have more choices in your long- term care decisions.

Why it’s important:

Taking care of someone with a chronic condition can be time consuming and expensive. Most people don’t want to burden their friends or family members, and that is where LTC insurance can help. Not only can it help ease the financial burden associated with the costs of care, it can also make it more efficient. The insurance company will assist with your personalized care coordination provided by professional care givers. This way what you pay in premiums now will provide multiple benefits when you need them most.

What to know:

Long-term Care insurance is the purest form of coverage to help insulate you from the costs associated with aging. Therefore, it’s the most cost-efficient option. However, LTC premiums are not guaranteed, and could rise in the future. In the past decade many insurance companies have left the LTC market and raised rates to their in-force policies. This is due to the increased cost of healthcare, more people keeping their polices, and actuarial assumptions of factors such as interest rates. To deal with these sometimes-sizeable rate increases, many insurance companies offer clients options to reduce or modify their coverage. Also, most states’ insurance departments limit the amount of the requested rate increase. At the same time, they realize a company must remain solvent in order to provide future benefits.