Not everyone can afford to pay for assisted living using only their own personal savings. If you live in the South Bay area and are exploring assisted living options for an elderly loved one, one of the things you may want to look into is long-term care insurance.
What Is Long-Term Care Insurance?
Long-term care insurance is a type of insurance that can help people pay for expenses such as assisted living, Alzheimer’s and dementia assisted living, and long-term needs such as hospice or respite care. It is different from traditional health insurance, which generally helps pay for doctors’ visits, hospital stays, and medications.
Long-term insurance reimburses policyholders for expenses accrued during daily care tasks that they may no longer be able to complete themselves, such as bathing, dressing, and other daily need tasks. The amount paid depends upon what is stated within the policy.
What Does Long-Term Care Insurance Cover?
Besides dealing with daily expenses, long-term care insurance can also cover hospice and respite care along with assisted living facility payments and payments for Alzheimer’s assisted living facilities. Part of the coverage will depend upon what was originally purchased by the policyholder, as well as how old the policyholder was at the time of purchase.
Unlike regular health insurance, long-term insurance is meant to fill the gap between Medicaid or VA benefits and what the policyholder has already paid out-of-pocket for assisted living facilities or Alzheimer’s care. It is important to know that if you or your elderly loved one are in poor health or if you or your loved one already have some form of long-term care prior to purchasing this type of insurance, you may not qualify. This is one of the reasons why it is advisable for everyone to purchase long-term care insurance long before they need it, even if they think they may not need or ever use it.
Potential long-term insurance customers need to be aware that there are some limits regarding how much money they will have in reimbursement. Long-term insurance will also only cover care facility costs for an average of two to five years, depending on what the original policy stated.
What If You Want To Stay In Your Own Home?
If you live in the South Bay area and want to stay in your home rather than move to an assisted care facility, you may also want to consider purchasing long-term care insurance to help manage some of your out-of-pocket costs. One of the first things to consider before looking into long-term care insurance is where you live. Look at your current home and see if modifications can be made to help make your current property more accessible, should you choose to remain in your home for as long as possible.
One of the best ways to assure your home will meet long-term care standards is if you begin making modifications before you actually need them so that you are helping yourself as much as possible. If you decide later that you need to move into an assisted care facility, long-term care insurance may be able to help.
Disclaimer: Please note we are not experts in this area. The article has been put together using the information we have garnered from reliable sources. You must consult with financial experts for more information and professional advice.
