Long Term Care
Long Term Care
What is Long-Term Care
Long-term care involves a variety of services that are uniquely designed to provide assistance to a person when they are no longer able to fully care for themselves. Contrary to popular belief, the need for long-term care is not contingent upon age. Illness and injury can occur unexpectedly whether you're young or old. However, most often, the need for care develops gradually as people get older and more-frail or as an illness, injury or disability gets worse.
Who will need Long-Term Care?
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 70% of adults who are age 65 or older will require some level of long-term care during their lifetime.
Long-Term-Care Protection Strategies Slideshow. The chances of needing long-term care, its cost, and strategies for covering that cost .
Getting Prepared
There is no way to know if you will need care in your lifetime. If you do require some level of Long-term care in the future; it is impossible to know when and why. You can, however, plan for how and where you would like to receive extended-care services, should the need arise.
A great place to start is our needs calculator to determine your potential long-term care needs and how long your current assets might last. Long-Term-Care Needs
Planning Financially for Long-Term Care
Long-term care can be expensive and should be planned for in order to protect your plans for retirement and ultimately your assets from being derailed in retirement, or before. Here are the most common ways of paying for care:
- Self-funding through personal savings.
- Traditional Long-term care insurance
- Linked-Benefits, or hybrid Life & Long-term care insurance.
- Long term care rider, or Chronic illness rider on a permanent life insurance policy or annuity contract.
- Government health insurance programs, such as Medicaid (Medicare does not cover long-term care but may cover some costs of short-term care in a nursing home after a hospital stay.) (National Institute of Aging)
“Extended Care: A Patchwork of Possibilities” Video. What is Your Plan for Healthcare during Retirement?
Resources
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
VIDEOS
- Extended Care: A Patchwork of Possibilities What is Your Plan for Healthcare during Retirement?
ARTICLES
- What to Look for in a Long-Term Care Policy Here’s a list of 10 questions to ask that may help you better understand the costs and benefits of long-term-care insurance.
CALCULATORS
- Long-Term-Care Needs Determine your potential long-term care needs and how long your current assets might last.