Anyone have long term care insurance?

Marin, this insurance is quite expensive.  Rates go up with age at sign-up, of course, and probably with medical history.  I looked into it years ago and decided against it.

Actually, it makes most sense if you have lots of assets and a family to provide for or leave your fortune to.  It is true that without it you will have to pay for long term care yourself, but once you've blown through your assets (house proceeds, etc.) Medicaid picks up the tab in most cases.  So, unless you fit the profile, I wouldn't bother with it.

Nana, long term disability insurance is different from long term care.  I believe Marin is talking about insurance that pays for your nursing home care or similar care.   Long term disability insurance is a salary replacement policy.  Two different things.

My company is offering this, too.  I don't understand how you ever become eligible for this type of insurance (and for LTD, for that matter) if you are getting it through your company.  My LTD requires that I be disable for at least 90 days before I can make a claim, but if my companie terminates me prior to the 90 day waiting period, I can't continue it through Cobra.  I think the long-term care insurance is limited in the same way. 

Does anyone have any information to impart about this?  It has been bothering me for years - maybe there's something you gals know that I don't? 

ps - still have the LTD 

Excellent to ask more questions.  It's the small print that gets ya!

  And yes, for Medicare (and other ins. usually follows their lead) you need to be in the hospital for 3 days to step down to skilled (SNF)  and you need more skilled nursing care than a feeding tube==== more like a knee replacement with daily intensive PT- or burns with major dressing changes--and yes you have to prove it to the Medicare people---and KEEP qualifying===but this is the same with all ins. for skilled level.  SNF is a bear. 

As a friend who sells ins once told me: you never know how good the ins. is till you have to use it.  Dang that's true!

Marin is correct (great to see another discharge planner in the group!---I then went into private consulting for catastrophic case management)

Overall, group policies tend to be less expensive than individual policies. The point about what happens when you leave the group is well taken. So, ASK! and ask to see their answer in writing. See what it says in the booklet you got from your HR dept. Don't believe things just because they tell you.

My husband has LTC. (I don't, because I had a heart attack in my 50s. As is the case with health insurance, a company can refuse to insure you, even though you continue to work full-time. That sucks!)

Policies differ. Good LTC can offer you some important options that Medicaid doesn't. Look for a provision that they can't raise your premium just because you make use of the policy; instead, they have to raise the premium of all members of your age & class.

Companies differ in how good they are, too. Insurance companies are rated by various groups, though after what we've seen on Wall St. recently, who knows how good those ratings are?

Marin, you are right about the cost of nursing home care in MA/NewEngland/New York.  If paying privately, expect at least $80,000 per year.

Remember, insurance companies sell policies to make money, not to help you in your old age.

And, again, you have to consider your individual situation while making any of these decisions.  As my husband and I have no kids and would spend what we had before worrying about anyone inheriting anything from us anyway, we figure we will run through all we have and then let Medicaid take up the slack if it ever comes to that. 

Another thing to think about if you own your own home is whether or not putting it under the homestead act, if available in your state, would protect that against being taken for expenses.  This is only important for a surviving spouse, the one NOT in the nursing home, so they would always have a place to live.

Also, you can look into a reverse mortgage.  Once you have gone through all the value in your home, I believe some institutions allow you to stay there until your death or whenever you decide to leave.

I'm not trying to be flip or morbid but there is also the possibility that you will not require nursing home care; you may just drop dead someday.  My father did.  And my mother was admitted to the hospital with previously undiagnosed terminal cancer and died there a couple of months later.

None of this is easy.

My wife and I both have it, and our folks do too. My wife is a Gerontologist and has developed the product for several companies and is employed by an insurer who is getting into the business.  So, we are biased.  However, her Mom used it for home care and it paid for itself.

A couple of things to look for. Make sure the plan is underwritten by a respected company, you want them to still be around years form now if you trigger coverage. If you want to stay at home make sure home care is covered, most do but check what is covered. Inflation can really get you, so consider a plan where you can adjust for that. Ask what the waiting period is from the time of a trigger event to when you start getting the benifit and make sure you can cover your own expenses during that time. Ask about underwriting, as a BC survivor some plans may exclude you. Usually group plans have less underwriting.

Understand your other options, if you don't have assets to protect and you and your kids would be okay with you going on Medicade, that is an option. Remember, it is your tax dollors that support Medicade. Some states are nursing home only and the state will take your home and other assets (even if you hide them by putting them in your kids name in the last 5 years or so), however, the surviving spouse is allowed to live in the house for the rest of their life. Know that Medicare does not cover long-term-care (LTC).

One way to decide is to take the annual premium cost and multiply it times the number of years you might pay before you would trigger claims.  Then find out the cost of daily care in a nursing home in your area. Most people don't last over 2 years. So, figure out that cost for 2 years. Now, only 50% of us will ever need LTC; so that is how the insurers profit, not everyone needs it and the few of us that do need it won't for very long periods. If you think knowing your covered is worth it then look into it, otherwise consider other alternatives.