Retirement Planning: Long Term Care

If you've had a family member who has required nursing home or assisted living care,
you know the emotional roller coaster and the financial hardship that a family experiences.
As life expectancy continues to rise, more people approaching retirement are starting to
consider the probability that they may need some form of long-term care in their future.

Today, many people today can continue to work through a critical illness while undergoing treatment.  They may not need to take off the required number of consecutive days for disability benefits to kick in (usually 90 days).  Critical Illness Insurance can help cover unexpected expenses associated with travel for medical care, unpaid days off work and medical care that may not be covered by insurance.

Medicare does not cover long term care, so it is either paid for privately (out of pocket), through long-term care insurance or a combination of both.

In the past, the big turn-off with long-term-care insurance was that all premiums paid were lost in the event the policy benefits were never used. Now there are more flexible products on the market that protect your investment.

A growing trend is a life insurance policy with a long-term care rider. If you never need it, your family still receives the benefit.

There are also pooled benefit and joint policies that cover more than one person, such as a husband and wife, domestic partners, or two or more related adults.

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