Senior Care Insurance – Assisted Living Costs and Benefits

The topics of senior care insurance and assisted living are important to all of us as we get older. When you are young and need no help in performing the activities of daily living such as walking, eating, or bathing, the thought of getting senior care insurance may not have crossed your mind. After all, the idea of adult assisted living or residing in a nursing home is not really something we look forward to.

But the facts speak for themselves, says the Long Term Care Insurance National Advisory Center. More than 9 million Americans are currently availing themselves of long term care services costing $55,750 per year, and these figures are projected to rise to 23 million by 2030 which, by then, will cost an estimated $300,000 per year per person.

Senior Care Insurance Facts

If you can afford to spend that much money, then perhaps you don’t have to worry about senior care insurance. But the truth of the matter is that the average American does not have that kind of money to spend for long term health care insurance.

Before Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, or falls and fractures render you unable to live on your own, sound financial planning dictates that you should prepare by setting up some type of insurance policy which will cover your need to get home care, assisted living, adult daycare, respite care, hospice care, nursing home, and special Alzheimer’s facilities. Long-term care insurance policies that you can purchase on your own through private companies or those that you can obtain by being a federal employee meet this need.

Medicaid and Medicare Assisted Living

Unlike what is commonly believed, Medicare, Medicaid, and other traditional health insurance policies do not cover long-term care needs. You will most likely not be able to purchase long term care insurance if you are already in poor health or are already receiving assisted care. This underscores the importance of obtaining this type of insurance policy as soon as possible and while you’re in good health. Another benefit is that you will also save on long term care insurance premiums.

Assisted Living Costs

The cost of senior care insurance is determined by factors such as where you live, the price of care in your area, the age which you obtained the policy, and the duration of the care you applied for.

Because of these different considerations, long term care rates can vary greatly and as such, it’s only possible to give you an idea of the estimates. Long-term care insurance costs for all ages for an average of five years’ worth of benefits can cost over $2,000 annually when the daily services are pegged at around $160 per day. However, those who got their plans when they were still under 40 years old will only have to pay around $800 a year. Compre that with those individuals who wait until they are 50 years of age or older to get theirs and end up paying in the neighborhood of $2,000 annually.

Long Term Care Plans

Note that you do not have to stick to a typical long term care plan offered by an insurance company. You can always customize your long-term care package through “riders.”

For example, you can choose to pay the same daily benefit throughout regardless of where you receive care, or pay less for home care and more for a nursing home facility. You might also want to make sure that you obtain inflation protection which protects you from increases in your policy because of the corresponding increase in the value of the coverage.

Benefits of Long Term Care Insurance

What benefits do you normally get with your senior insurance? To get an idea, let’s look at FLTCIP, or the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program offered to those working in the federal government. These benefits are also commonly seen among private insurance carriers, and include care in the home, nursing home or assisted living, stay-at-home benefit, portable coverage, guaranteed renewability, and a waiver of premium after a waiting period.

FLTCIP Senior Care Insurance – What Does it Cover?

FLTCIP covers the care settings such as the home, in an assisted living facility or a nursing home, and even the care given by friends and family members. The stay-at-home senior care benefit allows for care in the home and includes such items as home modifications, an emergency medical response system, and care planning visits. The FLTCIP is also portable coverage which means that you can keep the policy for as long as you continue to pay the premiums and assuming you have not exhausted your maximum benefit limit. It’s also guaranteed renewable (even if there is a change in your health, for as long as you keep paying premiums), and includes a premium waiver which allows you to stop paying the premiums while you are receiving the benefits.

If you are buying your own senior care insurance, you can choose to buy “facility care only” policies which are cheaper and allow you to save on premiums. As with travel insurance for seniors, should you choose a policy that later you feel is too expensive for you to maintain, you are also allowed to decrease your coverage without the need for underwriting.

The Best Long Term Care Insurance Advice

Before buying senior care insurance, consider what you can afford and how much you realistically feel you can spend for coverage.

For example, if you have family members who are living with you and can look after you, then you can opt to obtain insurance that will cover needs in the event that you’ll have to be placed in a nursing care facility. However, don’t buy too little insurance as this can only be disadvantageous should you really need optimal long-term care. Remember that while it’s easy to decrease coverage, it can be difficult to increase coverage in the future, particularly when you are already unable to bathe, dress, or feed yourself.

As you may already have seen, there are many important things to consider before you purchasing any long-term insurance care. Before purchasing coverage, it might also help to talk to a financial or insurance professional to help you sort out the intricacies of the process.

What is certain, however, is that getting senior care insurance is an absolutely necessity if you want to enjoy the peace of mind in knowing that you won’t be burdening your family with extra costs should you need to be admitted to a nursing home or assisted care center in your twilight years.