Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Why Purchase Long Term Care Insurance

By Dorothy Ellis


It's difficult to watch ourselves age. It's also difficult to watch our parents age. It's even more difficult when it comes to figuring out how to help them when the time comes. This type of help can be anything from some financial assistance, a few trips to the doctor's office, or helping them find a long term care facility they - or you - can afford. Perhaps you and your parents should have considered buying some long term care insurance years ago. But what is long term care insurance?

To be affordable, long term care insurance is best purchased as young as possible. Unfortunately, in order to find premiums that are very affordable, we are usually at an age where we feel invincible - old age is too far off to give it any serious consideration.

As we put off buying the insurance, the premiums increase and finally, for too many of us, we learn the hard way that we will be needing some type of long term care and we either find that we have huge deductibles because we'll need to use our regular health insurance, or worse, we find out we have to pay for everything out of pocket.

Long term care is probably one of the most affordable types of insurance when you think about what you pay vs. What you get. Policies range from basic care for less a year, to a permanent facility.

Policies differ, as with all sorts of insurance, and you can pick and choose options according to what you can afford or according to what you believe you might need. For instance, if Alzheimer's runs in your family, you may want to get a plan that supports the in depth level of specialized care these patients need. If everyone in your family lives till 105 and drops dead on the golf course, you may decide to purchase a lesser type of coverage.

Depending on the insurance company will depend of course on your policy now, and what type of add ons and options you are able to buy at later dates. For instance, if your 62 year old husband is in a head on collision and you find that he will need extensive long term care, you may or may not be able to increase your policy to suit the current situation.

When the moment comes, a long term coverage policy can provide a tremendous amount of financial help along with the peace of mind you plus the rest of your family will need in order to get through the current health crisis at hand. Typically, additional out of pocket expenses are minimal, or nothing at all.




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