Long Term Care Insurance: All you need to Know
Long-term care insurance (LTCI) is fast gaining popularity due to the ever-increasing costs of private nursing care, home care, and assisted living.
What is long-term care?
Although most people assume that long term care with assisted living is meant for the elderly, it actually refers to ongoing care for individuals who cannot perform simple Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) like dressing and bathing due to injuries, sicknesses, or cognitive disorders, regardless of their ages. Long term care is offered in various centers such as nursing homes, adult day-care facilities, and hospitals.
Who needs long-term care coverage?
Long-term care is very expensive, and you can never just know when you may need it. In other words, people who qualify to apply for the insurance policy should buy the care insurance. Although Medicaid can come in handy in paying for some of the long-term care, you may exhaust a big part of your savings to be eligible for application. Since Medicare and Medicare supplementary programs don’t cover most long-term care costs, you need to purchase a long-term insurance policy to cover those expenses. You can apply for LTCI if any of the following applies:
How does the insurance policy work?
You will purchase and pay a premium, and once the policy triggers benefits, it will start paying you a certain amount of money per day for a certain period, for the type of care described in the plan. Most policies trigger benefits in case of physical or mental impairments. Inability to perform certain ADLs is one of the most common methods of determining when the policy can trigger benefits.
