What You Need to Know about Long Term Care

If you’re anything like the average American consumer, then you take one look at the words “long term care” and then you’re completely tuned out … somewhat sure that you aren’t the kind of person that is going to need to live in a nursing facility. At least, not anytime soon. And anyways, I’ll have my Medicare to take care of me. Right?

Wrong, on several counts. The reason that too many people enter their senior years significantly under-insured is because too few are taking the time to consider the basic truths, that a) long-term care is far more likely than you think, and b) paying for it on your own can be next to impossible.

Long term care insurance is an essential part of your comprehensive health care plan. It also happens to be something that your personal insurance expert can help you with today.

Almost everyone will need long term care at some point in their lives

According to the Wall Street Journal, about 70% of all individuals are going to need long term care in their lifetime, whether it is an extended stay at a nursing facility or the use of an at-home care service.  If that sounds like odds that you are willing to take, then you simply haven’t thought it through.

The costs of long term care can be staggering

Take a moment to think about how much money you are on track to have saved for retirement. Then, consider that the average annual cost of a private room in a nursing home is $100,000 a year. Then consider that the average length of stay in one of those facilities is more than two years. Can you see where we’re going with this?

Even the most well-designed retirement plans can be quickly and irrevocably drained by the need for long term care. Additional coverage is a necessary part of any good retirement defense strategy.

Medicare’s LTC coverage is limited

One of the unfortunate things about Medicare is that coverage for long term care is somewhat limited.  Medicare is designed to cover “acute care”, which means things like doctor’s visits, prescription drugs, and hospital stays, but it falls far short when it comes to the cost of nursing facilities and services. In fact, unless it is something that a doctor specifically orders every 90 days, it’s going to be coming out of your pocket, or even worse, your family’s pocket.

Too many people are living under the assumption that Medicare is going to have their backs when they become too old or injured to care for themselves. While we wish we could say that it was a different story, that simply is not the case, and thoughtful financial planning is the only way to make sure that you are prepared.

After COVID-19, costs are only going to go up

As if the world we’re living in was not chaotic enough, it looks as if the problem of rising health care costs is not one that is going to be solved anytime soon. According to study released in march, the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath is set to increase our country’s combined medical debt by tens of billions of dollars. Premiums are going to be the first thing to go up, and people all over the country are going to be reeling from the effects (no matter what kind of coverage they have).

Some risks can be avoided

As can be seen across the front of any newspapers these days, there are some things in life that aren’t entirely predictable, and some things that aren’t predictable at all. The benefit of long term care insurance is having broad-scale protection against the predictable and the unpredictable alike, more specifically, the ruinous medical costs of out-of-pocket long term care.

The bright side: You have a long term care insurance expert available to you right now. A quick phone call can get you on track to acquiring your own LTC coverage. It’s also a great way to understand the different options that are on the table before you make a decision.

To your health and wealth,

Wiley P. Long, III
President – MediGap Advisors