Blacknbengal
Well-Known Member
No long-term-care insurance? Uh-oh
You probably don't need another bill to pay. But skipping this protection could destroy your finances, even long before you're old, or vaporize your kids' inheritances.
Many of us are counting on the government, disability insurance, our children or our own savings to take care of us in our old age.
Even thinking about nursing homes makes us nervous, too aware of advancing age. Maybe we have visited elderly relatives in a home and the thought of ending up there terrifies us. Or maybe we think we're too young to worry about it.
Not buying long-term-care insurance, however, can be one of the most-expensive mistakes you will ever make.
Medicare pays medical expenses. It almost never pays for custodial care, the kind of day-to-day care people typically need as they get older.
And Medicaid is welfare. You probably don't depend on welfare for your needs now, for many of the same reasons you wouldn't want to depend on it later. You would have to be impoverished or make yourself that way, though the latter is more difficult now because of changes in the law. And you wouldn't have much choice in who provided your care or where.
Take a tour of the assisted-living homes in your area that accept new Medicaid patients before you throw yourself at the mercy of the state.
Help you can't count on
Disability insurance and long-term-care insurance are not the same. Disability insurance replaces your income if you can't work; long-term-care insurance pays for your care.
"Disability coverage ends at age 65, while most LTC (long-term-care) claims begin after age 65," says Kyle Metcalf, the director of long-term-care marketing with HealthPlan Services, an administrator of insurance plans.
Rest of Story
I'm definitely looking into this. I have supplemental insurance with Colonial, but I want more.
You probably don't need another bill to pay. But skipping this protection could destroy your finances, even long before you're old, or vaporize your kids' inheritances.
Many of us are counting on the government, disability insurance, our children or our own savings to take care of us in our old age.
Even thinking about nursing homes makes us nervous, too aware of advancing age. Maybe we have visited elderly relatives in a home and the thought of ending up there terrifies us. Or maybe we think we're too young to worry about it.
Not buying long-term-care insurance, however, can be one of the most-expensive mistakes you will ever make.
Medicare pays medical expenses. It almost never pays for custodial care, the kind of day-to-day care people typically need as they get older.
And Medicaid is welfare. You probably don't depend on welfare for your needs now, for many of the same reasons you wouldn't want to depend on it later. You would have to be impoverished or make yourself that way, though the latter is more difficult now because of changes in the law. And you wouldn't have much choice in who provided your care or where.
Take a tour of the assisted-living homes in your area that accept new Medicaid patients before you throw yourself at the mercy of the state.
Help you can't count on
Disability insurance and long-term-care insurance are not the same. Disability insurance replaces your income if you can't work; long-term-care insurance pays for your care.
"Disability coverage ends at age 65, while most LTC (long-term-care) claims begin after age 65," says Kyle Metcalf, the director of long-term-care marketing with HealthPlan Services, an administrator of insurance plans.
Rest of Story
I'm definitely looking into this. I have supplemental insurance with Colonial, but I want more.