Getting a Grip on Long Term Care Insurance

The cost of long-term care, such as paying for a nursing home, continues to rise every year. It isn’t uncommon for someone to have to pay $80,000 or more for a single year in a nursing home environment. Because of this, many people choose to incorporate long-term care insurance into their estate plan as a hedge against the potential costs involved with long-term care. However, long-term care insurance is not right for everybody, and there are issues you want to consider before deciding to obtain a policy.

Weigh all the factors.

There are number of plans out there and no one plan is ideally suited for each person. It’s best for you to carefully review several plans so you can get a good idea of what is currently available. This industry changes a lot and available benefits can change significantly in a short amount of time.

Apply sooner rather than later.

Obtaining a long-term care insurance policy becomes more difficult the older you get. If you are over the age of 80, you have about a 50-50 chance of obtaining a policy. Needless to say, if you apply for policy earlier your chances of being accepted are much better.

Don’t count on Medi-Cal

While Medicaid (or Medi-Cal in California) will cover long-term care costs if you qualify, it’s qualifying that is typically the main problem. Medicaid is designed to provide health insurance and long-term care coverage to people without significant assets, so in order to receive coverage you will need to develop a Medi-Cal plan. If you don’t have a Medi-Cal plan, don’t count on having Medi-Cal pay for your long-term care costs until you have depleted almost all of your current assets.

An experienced and qualifed elder law attorney can assist in the development of a long term care plan, whether it involves a decision to self

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Timothy P. Murphy

Timothy P. Murphy is an estate planning and elder law attorney whose practice emphasizes helping people to build, preserve and pass on their wealth. He works with his clients to accomplish their goals while avoiding unnecessary court proceedings and minimizing or eliminating exposure to death taxes.

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