Long Term Care coverage

64Mustang · Jun 18, 2018

Super long story shorten: my wife's Father and his wife (step-mom) are early 80's. Stepmom has been put into nursing home because of Dementia issues. Her physical health has decline significantly also. It was costing him about $9K per month for the nursing home. She has been in there for over a year now.

Doing a little research and found that nursing home average stays are about 18 months, but that takes into consideration the very ill from the Hospital that have just a few weeks to live. I know of some people who lived in nursing home for several years.

Been thinking about long term care coverage, partially to protect assets for kids, and/or wife or me if one or the other has to go nursing home route for a few years. we are both mid 50s and everything I have read says to get LTC coverage in your mid 50s.

Recommendations? Just LTC or combined LTC/life insurance where if you don't use Nursing home it changes to life insurance that pays out upon death.

Thanks in advance. Hoping someone out that would be willing to share some armchair expert advice

thanks.

Ericb · Jun 18, 2018

Look into the Nd LTC partnership plans. There are lots of insurance agents that can sell them(such as my self) that doesn't mean they should. I would try and find someone that specializes in LTC/ financial planning. There are a lot more variables in the coverage than most realize. Your also buying a policy today that your hoping meets your needs hopefully 30+ years down the road if ever.

westwolfone · Jun 18, 2018

I wouldn't buy it or life insurance for that matter. I believe the benefit is for the people selling it more than anything else.

I'm sure someone selling it will come on here and tell me how stupid I am. Just my opinion.

espringers · Jun 18, 2018

Protect your assets through a good estate planning attorney. Then put the $ you would spend on LTC insurance into something else. Unless you got the $ to burn. My advice would be to go see a planner first.

Ericb · Jun 18, 2018

westwolfone said:
I wouldn't buy it or life insurance for that matter. I believe the benefit is for the people selling it more than anything else.

I'm sure someone selling it will come on here and tell me how stupid I am. Just my opinion.

I wont say I completely disagree with you or espringers but your options are relying on the government to take care of you if needed.

db-2 · Jun 18, 2018

At 71 and 67 we both have talk about it over time as both are parents did not have. Cost now is way beyond reach for us. My parents stay in for a long time and the wives parents not so long.
But cost will wipe out all assets one has unless you are super rich. Can leave one parent with nothing left to live on.

SS office is no help in working through this. I got lucky and met a young girl working in a office who told me everything I needed to know to protect my parents farm and some other assets. Yes they still spent a lot of their own funds before the state took over.

One needs to first find out the rules of this game. I was lucky and it cost me nothing. Find that person that will help you and then you will be able to answer your own question better. A lot of surprises in this game that they will never tell you.

Work on plans (health, ect) as to how to keep from going so one stays out. Many do and die at home or die that first month in the home. Drink a lot of old mill, work the mind besides the body, eat right, have a bunch of kids when young to keep stress down, maybe one will find monies or marry monies. Paid $10,000 (one time pay) for a $15,000 whole life policy (one for each of us) and made one of the kids the owner of it so we can at least bury ourselves. And maybe if it's luck but you can stay out. db

westwolfone · Jun 18, 2018

Ericb said:
I wont say I completely disagree with you or espringers but your options are relying on the government to take care of you if needed.

There are other options.

PrairieGhost · Jun 18, 2018

My wife and I have had long term care for many years. With out luck we have put $28K into it so far and will perhaps drop over dead and never see a nursing home. That's best I guess.
Anyway, we have ours through Thrivent which is a Lutheran organization. We started many years ago with $250 a day nursing home insurance, or up to 12 hours per day at home nursing care. It goes up 5% per year which put us at about $500 per day now. We purchased it only a month before that very good plan ended.

There are other options.

Yes, I have a friend that says he doesn't need long term care because he has a 12 gauge he can stick in his mouth. Some liberal friend say they are going to let the government take care of them. They may be living in a cardboard box in the park. Maybe if they stay in Mexico for a year and get citizenship they can come back illegally and get everything paid for.

shorthairsrus · Jun 18, 2018

FYI. Look at your coverage. When my mother was in her bill was 14k a month. She had her faculties, could eat by herself, could walk , go to the restroom by herself. Her issue was risk of falling so some activities had to be monitored. . The number of actual assists during the day was low. Wake-up call your policy is probably way under what actual costs r today

db-2 · Jun 18, 2018

Unbelievable what it cost now. For the folks at the time it was 3000 plus each and then the medication. As I see it they get the right medication into one to keep them sleeping and that is the care one will get. I do not want to die but there will come a time. I just hope I am able to know it and can take care of the problem myself.

I do not see how this can continue at these prices. The state can not keep it up and at the same time I am aware that nursing homes are struggling making ends meet. State with their big time regulations on the homes. Sometime has to give for the next generation.
Someone taking care of a handful of people in their homes however like growing pot it will take a arm and a leg to get that license. A couple of people may be three taking care of a person getting $14,000 a month, one would thing there would be takers but then the state will need to make sure they can do the job. Major issue forthcoming. db

Allen · Jun 18, 2018

My personal take on this:

1. If you are in your 40s, you are too late to by buying this insurance as the cost of insurance will kill you, and then you wouldn't need it anyway.

2. People talk about "protecting assets" from being used to pay for their care.

Umm, #2 is exactly what should be done with your assets, they SHOULD be used to take care of you if/when you need it. It's people without assets and/or insurance that are the damn problem. Everyone wants someone else to pay for their care so they can leave their assets as a gift (inheritance) to their heirs. That's not the way it should be at all.

wildeyes · Jun 18, 2018

my father has been in nursing home care for 7 years the policy only went 3 years at a 100.00 a day which only covers .25 of the the cost if you do this make sure you consider a cost of at least double the cost now. After dealing with this I fully believe estate planning is the key. He pays 8500 to 9500 a month his retirement is paying for this and at 110000 a year it goes pretty quick.

AR-15 · Jun 18, 2018

To me the IRA's an The Roth's are for the advisors seems like they like to to take their share when ever they want to, I got cash in the safety deposit box to bury me, going to start putting cash away for whoever is the nicest and that can be the kids, grandkids, neighbor kids etc.

FishinRN · Jun 18, 2018

Allen said:
My personal take on this:

1. If you are in your 40s, you are too late to by buying this insurance as the cost of insurance will kill you, and then you wouldn't need it anyway.

2. People talk about "protecting assets" from being used to pay for their care.

Umm, #2 is exactly what should be done with your assets, they SHOULD be used to take care of you if/when you need it. It's people without assets and/or insurance that are the damn problem. Everyone wants someone else to pay for their care so they can leave their assets as a gift (inheritance) to their heirs. That's not the way it should be at all.

I agree with this, assets amassed throughout ones life is exactly what should be utilized to pay these expenses. Proper estate planning is far more valuable to most than any insurance policy.

Many would disagree with me but I see insurance as a necessary burden everyone must have on homes, vehicles etc. If insurance policies made good financial sense the policies would pay out a little closer to premiums. Clearly insurance is big money, dont have to watch tv for 10 minutes to see 3 commercials of companies competing for your business. There seems to be a lot of overweight unintelligible former high school athletes punching numbers into a computer making more money than the bulk of their clients. The "salesman" part is certainly there as my experience is everyone wants to see you their product but isn't necessarily that informed on it themselves.

Bfishn · Jun 18, 2018

AR-15 said:
To me the IRA's an The Roth's are for the advisors seems like they like to to take their share when ever they want to, I got cash in the safety deposit box to bury me, going to start putting cash away for whoever is the nicest and that can be the kids, grandkids, neighbor kids etc.

You don't need an adviser for an IRA, open an account through Vanguard, Fidelity etc and buy ETF's.

espringers · Jun 18, 2018

i can agree with allen's sentiments.

regarding retirement planning... do some math on what the premiums would cost. then do some math on how long you would expect to pay said premiums before going in the home. then pretend you invested them and got a modest 7% return on your money. then take that number and divide it by $125,000/year and you can figure out how long your money would keep you in the home before that state has to pick up the tab... IF you choose not to "protect" that money with proper estate planning.

Nanky · Jun 18, 2018

AR-15 said:
To me the IRA's an The Roth's are for the advisors seems like they like to to take their share when ever they want to, I got cash in the safety deposit box to bury me, going to start putting cash away for whoever is the nicest and that can be the kids, grandkids, neighbor kids etc.

Did I mention how nice you looked today . . . .

db-2 · Jun 18, 2018

I did just visit with a nursing home and the average cost before medication there is $6,500. Not sure what 14,000/month is paying for.
As AR stated I to have cash sitting in the house. Guns and others things I am sure will be long gone before either of us enter the home. Put the burial life insurance in the kids name and hopefully we both make it a couple of more years so it will remain that way and not taken by the nursing home. I will not have the kids bury us.

Is it right, should one use all his assets and not protect for the kids? If your facing the farm being gone that was started in 1895 one thinks about the ethics of it. So one needs to plan, if you want to keep the farm in your name until you die as you do not trust the kid guess what will happen to it. Plan accordingly and remember one never knows when one goes. Assist suicide was and is not the worst thing out there. There comes a time to move on no matter how hard it would be to happen. db

BrokenBackJack · Jun 18, 2018

Nanky you beat me to it. LOL

westwolfone · Jun 18, 2018

Really the only advice for the OP is to find someone he trusts to do estate planning.

Everyone's situation is different and will require a different plan.

My plan is to retire at 62 and have no cash left (will still have my house, vehicles, ,etc.) when I'm 75.

Donating your body to science will ensure that there's no funeral/burial costs to pass on.

Long Term Care coverage

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