What Type of Elder Care Does Long-Term Care Insurance Cover?

By Steve Elliott | December 11, 2023 | Comments Off on What Type of Elder Care Does Long-Term Care Insurance Cover?

Depending on your age, health, and other factors, you may be at an elevated risk of requiring long term care at some point in your future. For people in their 70s, there is a 50/50 chance they might require some type of elder care by the time they’re eighty. Most people incorrectly assume that long-term care expenses would be covered by their primary health insurance provider, Medicare, or Medicaid. Most health insurance policies do not cover anything beyond short-term care, which generally constitutes just several days or a couple of weeks of hospitalization or nursing home care, at best. That is why it is important to look into long-term care insurance companies for added coverage.

As far as Medicaid is concerned, most states only cover nursing home care and only after the individual has exhausted all of their available savings and assets. Believe it or not, those assets are often also the equity you have in a home or other real estate holdings. In other words, most seniors are surprised to learn that they would be on the hook to pay for long-term care expenses in the event they require them.

That’s why long-term care insurance is so important.

If you carry long-term care insurance into your retirement years, you won’t have to worry about tapping into your investments, your savings, your pension, or other assets to cover long-term care expenses in the event you or your spouse or other legal dependent require it.

People simply don’t understand just how much money it costs for long-term care these days. Depending on where you live, you could be paying an average of $55,000 per year for full-time home care or up to $300,000 per year for nursing home care. For most people, that would be financially devastating.

If you want to protect yourself, your assets, your savings, your spouse, or other dependents from these unexpected expenses, look into a long-term care insurance policy at least by the time you are in your mid to late 50s, but no later. Of course, if you are 60, 63, or 65 now, you may still qualify for long-term care insurance, but the premiums may be much higher than you would expect if you were in your early to mid-50s instead.

Now, what types of elder care does this insurance cover?

That depends on the policy. However, if you look into and carry a decent long-term care insurance policy from reputable long-term care insurance companies, you should be able to choose the type of elder care you or your dependent may require in the future.

That might be nursing home care, if necessary. It might be assisted living. It may even be a memory care assisted living community if you or your spouse, for example, are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at some point in the future.

Long-term care insurance may also cover in-home care support services. Depending on the policy, individual needs, and other factors, if your spouse or adult child becomes your primary caregiver, they might be eligible to be paid from this policy for the work they provide, but when you’re paying for a long-term care insurance policy, you should consider experienced support and care from an agency instead.

A policy, on average, may start paying out on those long-term care expenses after a 90-day waiting period, but that all depends on the policy itself, your needs, and your requirements, so speak to a licensed and experienced broker or agent today.

If you or a loved one are considering Long-Term Care Insurance Companies in Del Mar CA, please get in touch with Steve Elliott at Capstone Insurance for an honest discussion about your future and your options. Call today at (858) 350-3161.

Steve Elliott
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