If I can’t have the coverage I want, I don’t want any coverage at all. If my partner is declined, I don’t want any insurance either.
I hear these comments more than occasionally, and when I do, it makes me very sad for the families who will be forced into obligations that could have been prevented. They’ll need to help the person who couldn’t get financial help from an insurance company and help the person who decided out of spite to refuse coverage that was offered. Spouses and family members will need to make sacrifices that could have been diminished with the resources and money that insurance would have provided.
Any amount of money that an insurance company pays when extended care is needed at home, in assisted living or in memory care is accepted with gratitude from the family caregivers who know that they have help. They’re not trying to figure this out alone.
We’ve heard that our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. It works similarly with LTC insurance. Many people tell me they want to cover every possible need for however long a need lasts. This is often not feasible because the cost for a plan that pays everything forever is very high.
We need to ask where we’ll most likely be when care is needed. Will we live at home or move in with family? Do we want to move to that assisted living community that everyone is raving about? We’re not going to choose to move into a nursing home. We would only move there if we run out of money or if our need is more extreme than what can be provided elsewhere.
When we’re at home or in assisted living, it’s not nurses and doctors providing our care. It’s home health aids and nurse assistants. They don’t provide medical care; they provide what’s called custodial care – care for non-medical needs like getting out of bed, getting dressed and eating. We don’t need a doctor or a nurse for that. We just need help.
Once we bankrupt ourselves, the state Medicaid system will likely place us in a Medicaid approved bed which is usually in a nursing home. If we need non-medical care and are funding it ourselves with a combination of insurance, income and savings, then we can choose where we want to receive that care.
When planning, we’ll work together to learn where you’ll be geographically, who you’ll be living with at that time and how much support you want or expect from them. We discuss future costs and how much of that cost can be paid with income and savings while leaving enough money for household needs. That will help us determine how much insurance will complement your resources and pay for care along with your income and some savings.
The insurance would be used first, so if care costs less than we anticipate, then we’ll have lower out of pocket costs. This helps us design our plan and decide how big of a part insurance plays in funding that plan. What if our retirement budget doesn’t allow us to afford that full plate of the best coverage? We find an affordable plan that will provide meaningful help for our family. Then, we and our family will be Prepared for Tomorrow!
Listen to and learn from my weekly podcast at https://preparing4tomorrow.com/ and schedule to design your plan today! For more information, please call Diane at 813-363-6441 or visit Preparing4Tomorrow.com.
