Long-term Care Insurance

long term care insurance allows for affordable in home care and affordable home health careCoral Tree’s Donald Macdonald is licensed to sell life and health insurance, long-term care insurance, and California Partnership long-term care policies (license number 0H61533). Being insured means you can have the peace of mind receiving affordable in home care services.

According to the official US government Medicare handbook, Medicare & You, at least 70% of people over 65 will at some point need long-term care services. Medicare and most health insurance plans, including Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) policies, do not pay for this type of care.

Long-term care is expensive, and the options for families confronted with caring for a loved one are limited:

(1) Use personal resources. Whether using caregivers in the home or putting a loved one in a nursing home or board and care facility care is costly. In 2010 a Metlife survey calculated the average hourly cost of custodial care in California to average $21.40 per hour, the monthly cost of assisted living to be $3,700 and the daily cost for a nursing home $296. Some life insurance policies will allow you to use your life policy to pay for long-term care.

(2) Family and friends may be called to provide care. This takes an enormous physical and emotional strain on caregivers.

(3) Medicaid is an option for people who have no resources. If you are destitute and are placed in a care facility by Medicaid that facility can be up to 80 miles from where you live. That’s a long way from Newport Beach!

The burden normally falls on the family due to a lack of resources or in an effort to protect resources.

We are in touch every day with families seeking care for one of their loved ones, and are keNewport Beach In Home Care long term care insuranceenly aware of how expensive care is. Most people do not have LTC insurance nor have their children considered obtaining it. The insurance is generally considered too expensive or unnecessary (“I’ll never need insurance”), and many mistakenly believe that the government will somehow help them. Yes they will, if you are destitute and have depleted all you assets, but neither Medicare nor health insurance provides any relief.
Long-term care insurance is the purchase of a future bucket of money to provide for future care needs. The best time to purchase this insurance is when you are young and healthy. The percentage of applicants declined insurance increases dramatically as you age (ages 50 -69  9.5% declined , ages 60 – 69  14% declined , ages 60 – 60  23% declined , ages 70 – 79  45% declined).

We are encouraged (in fact it is practically obligatory) to have insurance for a possible car accident, a fire and health insurance. If you live past 65 the chance of your house burning down in a fire is 2 percent. The chance of a severe car accident is 16 – 18 percent. However, if you live past age 65 the chances of you requiring long term care is a whopping 70% yet very few people insure for that.

Contact us today to learn more about the benefits and costs of insurance.