Don’t Ignore This Serious Retirement Threat
Don’t Ignore This Serious Retirement Threat
Quote: “Many older Americans have their heads in the sand regarding the potential threat posed by long-term care. They think somebody else will pay for it, but that’s usually not the case. Unfortunately, Medicare, Medicaid and medical insurance policies don’t cover most long-term care costs, and most people end up paying for care out of their own resources. In addition, many people underestimate how much long-term care really costs. How real is this threat? You can read the statistics, but if you want to truly understand how serious the problem is, ask your 50-something or 60-something friends if they’ve had to deal with long-term care for their parents. Chances are good you’ll find at least one who has had to provide care themselves, arrange for it or pay for it out of pocket.”
Would an extra annual bill of between $40,000 and $90,000 per year be a problem in your retirement?
It would for me! Thus I have LTC insurance. I can’t afford a car accident either, so I bought car insurance too. How will you pay for care when your health changes?
If your answer is Medicaid, or the government will take care of you, you haven’t been reading the newspapers recently. Even if Medicaid dollars are still available, they pay the facilities so little that they won’t take you. Oh sure, some county home somewhere will but even those are going broke on the Medicaid reimbursements and closing down.
If you want choices of where you will be cared for, you best be able to pay for that care. If you investigate LTC insurance in your fifties, you may still be healthy enough to get it. You will pay for more years, but the total will still be less than if you try to get it in your sixties (and possibly find out you can’t get it anymore).
You can do lots of research online. I do that with my physical ailments, but then I go to the doctor. My doctor knows how things should be working, takes into account many variables I would not have even thought of, and comes up with a solution.
That is what we do at TheLongTermCareGuy.com. We’ve been doing it for 24 years now. Once we help you investigate how much of the bill you can fund yourself, and how little insurance is needed to make up the shortfall, we can give you prices. Give us a call to investigate together at (920) 884-3030
7-17-2017 By Steve Vernon, CBS MoneyWatch
