Planning for Long Term Care Needs

 

You are taking a huge risk by not being financially prepared for long-term health care. Those have been there know.

 

Middle income families are the ones who can be hit the hardest if they don’t plan for the impact of long-term care for themselves and their dependents. Higher income families can afford it and lower income families can qualify for government assistance. Middle income families bear the financial burden themselves.

 

In a recent survey, it was found that nearly three-fourths of middle incomes Americans were concerned about needing long-term care in the future but only one-fourth had actually purchased long-term care insurance.

 

Does that mean that even though we are concerned, we prefer to just stick our heads in the sand and hope for the best?

 

“Hoping and praying” isn’t a plan considering that one out of every five Americans over the age of 50 will require some level of care in the next year of their lives. The average cost of a nursing home is $55,000.

 

If you are 65 or over and on Medicare, don’t think that Medicare will cover long-term care…it doesn’t. Part B provides for a few days of therapy and rehabilitation…after that it comes out of your pocket.

 

The reason given in the survey for not having long-term care insurance was that it was too expensive. But is it too expensive?

 

It wouldn’t take long for retirement nest eggs to melt away when paying over $50,000.00 a year for a nursing home or more that $20,000.00 for assisted living facilities.

 

You should ask yourself if you would rather pay several thousand dollars a month for long-term care or a fraction of that to protect your assets with long-term care insurance.

 

Many times younger people think it is too soon for them to worry about long-term care insurance and older people think it’s too late…neither is accurate.