Long Term Care Partnerships
Americans are focused on the wrong retirement risks
Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
A study from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College found that Americans cite market volatility as the top retirement risk, while longevity and health care costs actually present bigger risks. The study concluded that Americans need more education about retirement risks, as well as a source of secure income and long-term care planning. To view the article, click on the link below and then on “take me to the story”.
Research: Americans focused on wrong retirement risks
Has your planner addressed the risk of spending an extra $50,000 to $90,000 every year for 3-5 years when your health changes? If not, or even if your planner did, remember that they specialize in investing money. I am an expert in planning for and dealing with Long-Term Care. Investigate with an expert and get the best advice and solutions available. Visit my website at www.TheLongTermCareGuy.com or call (920) 884-3030 to schedule your time to investigate
Alzheimer’s May Strike Women and Men in Different Ways
At the end of February, the website HealthDay published an article entitled “Alzheimer’s May Strike Women and Men in Different Ways”. (https://consumer.healthday.com/2-25-alzheimers-may-strike-women-men-in-different-ways-2650728831.html )
Here is a quote from that article: “The ravages of Alzheimer’s may strike later in women than men, but once it takes hold women tend to deteriorate far faster than men, according to a new study. Something known as cognitive reserve helps the aging brain function better for longer, and researchers report that women appear to have more of it than men. But once the reserve runs out, mental decline in women speeds up.”
As you read this, it would be good to ask yourself if you have your Long-Term Care (LTC) insurance yet. Once health problems are on your medical record, it may no longer be available to you.
LTC insurance is a little like car insurance – you have to have the insurance BEFORE the accident.
Is your plan to move in with your children when you need care? Have you discussed this with them? Can they care for you full time and still work to earn a living, and to raise your grandchildren?
Look at some ideas, www.TheLongTermCareGuy.com has a number of short videos. Watch them, then start planning for your care. I’m here to help.
Have you ever wondered….
Do you have questions about the cost of long term care?
Do you have questions about the cost of long term care?
Are your clients confused about the many options, how to choose coverage, or if it’s necessary for them?
I’m Romeo Raabe LUTCF, LTCP and I’m known as The Long Term Care Guy–in fact, my website is www.TheLongTermCareGuy.com and I work exclusively on Long Term Care (LTC) issues. Some examples include how to get the most from LTC insurance, how to start a claim, what to do if care is needed and there is no insurance—and much more!
I also offer insurance for LTC and have options most financial professionals are not even aware of. For example, this week I put coverage in place for a couple ages 87 and 84 for less than $90/month a piece.
Even if someone is in care – even if already on Medicaid – I may still be able to help. If you or your clients have questions, feel free to call me at (920) 884-3030. I am here to help anyone dealing with or concerned about LTC.
Contact ROMEO RAABE about the cost of long term care!
PS: There can be huge differences in LTC insurance policies—I can help you understand the differences, and probably even set you up with other strategies most other advisors don’t know about!
Happy Holidays – How is Grandma?
How is Grandma? Are bills piling up unpaid? Is hygiene slipping? Are they not eating as well as they should, or is the house unkempt?
While your family was together at Thanksgiving, was there evidence that older family members are not taking care of themselves as well as they could be or used to?
Perhaps your loved one is not driving as much as before, or perhaps should not be driving at all. Are bills piling up unpaid? Is hygiene slipping? Are they not eating as well as they should, or is the house unkempt?
It is never easy to meet with siblings and parents to talk about how and where they will be helped with future living arrangements. Then you check into costs at senior living facilities and wonder how can this possibly work.
Hello! My name is Romeo Raabe, and I am a long-term care (LTC) planner at www.TheLongTermCareGuy.com. I help families learn how to convert homes into income to pay for LTC facilities.
I help families navigate the federal Medicaid programs that can pay for LTC. I even have ways to help protect the money for family, rather than all going toward LTC costs.
If this discussion has started, or is about to, call me at (920) 884-3030 and let’s schedule a time to visit and see if I can help you and yours. It’s never too late and you don’t know what you don’t know.
Teaching and Helping People is the Best Reward!
I enjoy both speaking and teaching. It is now a requirement that before a licensed insurance agent can sell any type of Long Term Care insurance, they must have an initial 8 hour certification course and every two years an additional 4 hour refresher course. I not only teach these in several states, but I also write the courses for a number of states.
Long Term Care financing is a very specific and complex area. It requires knowledge of estate planning, tax law, social work, financial planning, legal documents and more. I have done nothing but this for over 23 years now and am very motivated to be sure my advice and planning works as desired when care is needed, sometimes decades later. Knowing what is happening with interest rates, minimum wage, demographic changes, health care, Long Term Care facility usage projections as well as home care services projections is very important.
It is not necessary to lecture a customer on every one of these factors, but all of them must be taken into account. Many insurance agents who dabble in this field do not think to include all of these factors in their planning. That is why I enjoy writing and teaching the required courses, to bring the agents who will work in this area up to speed as much as possible.
Speaking to conferences on Long Term Care planning is also enjoyable, not only for the free trip (mini vacation) but the industry needs up to date information on current trends, new products and how best to use them.
Planning with clients is much the same, but needs to be explained using language they use and understand versus industry jargon. For example, the phrase elimination period actually means the deductible, the time before the insurance starts paying. However, if you ask a nurse what the elimination period is, the nurse might suggest the time in the bathroom with the newspaper. Life is too short to not have some fun, even when discussing a serious topic such as this.
The best speaking, however, is when a client or the children of a client call and tell me that Mom or Dad could never have afforded the wonderful care they are now receiving in such a nice place without the Long Term Care insurance that they hesitated to purchase years before. They are now receiving hundreds of times more back in benefits than they paid out in premiums over the years. That is what makes it all so rewarding.
Meetings in Washington DC With Congressmen
This has been a busy week, traveling to Washington DC to meet with congressmen and staffers on Medicaid and LTC issues.
Many were not aware of the Partnership between Medicaid and LTC insurance which came about as part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Partnership is an incentive from the government to encourage people of modest means to purchase at least some LTC insurance.
The time will come when the purchasers of partnership policies may need LTC services. After the LTC insurance has paid for care, if more cash flow is needed, or the policy is exhausted, it may be necessary to apply for Medicaid. Instead of being required to spend-down to Medicaid impoverishment, Medicaid will ignore assets equal to what the partnership LTC insurance policy has already paid out. If citizens take some personal responsibility for their LTC, then the government will reward them if more care is needed.
Unfortunately, many states do not promote this program, to their financial loss. Texas has a wonderful website of http://www.OwnYourFutureTexas.org and the state of Connecticut sends state employees out to public venues to host seminars on the Partnership concept. I am told that Connecticut can document 10% of the attendees purchasing some partnership LTC insurance and an additional number decide that Medicaid planning is not in their best interest.
While in Washington I pointed out that many requests legislators receive involve a concession of some type to possibly receive a tax benefit later. This program requires the government to give away nothing now, to reap the benefit of citizens paying at least some of their own LTC costs in the future. It is good for everyone. I asked for legislators to consider promotion of this concept to save protect Medicaid from future budget shortfalls.
After making these points with Congressman Paul Ryan Wednesday, I saw in the Green Bay, WI newspaper on Friday an article about him where he mentions taking the first steps toward fixing a serious problem: a debt-ridden federal government facing an onslaught of retiring baby boomers draining entitlement programs.
The timing of this article, of just what I spoke to him about, was probably a coincidence. However, congressmen need input from people in the various fields that affect government programs to know the best way to improve them.
Now that you know what the partnership program is, and how it can protect assets in the event you have exhausted or need more cash flow than your partnership LTC insurance policy provides, wy would you wait to investigate it? Policies are becoming less generous as the insurance companies are finding more and more people collecting on them. Medical underwriting is becoming much more stringent – do NOT wait until you can no longer qualify to purchase this coverage. Call TheLongTermCareGuy.com, Romeo Raabe, at (920) 884-3030 or (800) 219-9203 to investigate. Most people do not need as much LTC insurance as they might initially suspect.
When Should I Buy LTC Insurance?
A recent article on Fox News, featuring a financial expert who shall remain nameless, stated that since there is only a 1% chance of needing Long Term Care until after 60, don’t spend a dime on it until then. Perhaps he is not aware of the statistic that 40% of Americans currently receiving LTC services are between 18 and 64.
Statistically that means that the majority of people needing LTC services are over 65, he is correct there. However, to buy LTC insurance you have to be in good health, and by 65 nearly a fourth of us cannot qualify to buy it.
You might suspect that like life insurance, a past heart attack could be a problem. Actually, no, as the next one might kill you and death is the end of a claim. LTC insurers like death, its lingering they are insuring against. Thus they are concerned about strokes (which disable), joint trouble, osteoporosis, Parkinsons, and diabetes.
Diabetes has a strong link to Alzheimer’s disease, if you are diabetic you have a 65% greater chance of developing Alzheimers. In some circles they are calling Alzheimers type 3 diabetes. And that is not even counting the lost toes, feet, eyesight, etc.
Weight is not too big a concern, which should make some of us happy, as the underweight frail are more likely to need help soon than the moderately overweight. Likewise joint replacements are fine, that joint is brand new (once you have completed recovery).
Things on your medical record that are not a problem now, but could lead to problems in later years are also trouble. Some baby boomers, concerned about aging may ask their doctor if their memory is ok. After a quick cognitive assesment you may be told you are fine, not to worry. The problem comes when the doctor makes a note in your medical record that you were concerned about your memory. The insurance companies are not about to take a chance that the doctor simply did not pick up on a very mild cognitive impairment that only you noticed and you are declined for coverage even if no problem ever surfaces in the future.
So, when is the best time to investigate LTC insurance? When it is affordable would seem the proper answer. When you have money at the end of the month instead of month at the end of the money is one indicator. It must be affordable now and going forward. However, the longer you wait, the more of a gamble your health becomes and the more the policies will cost (longer life expectancies equal longer lingering at the end). This year many companies are changing to gender specific rates, meaning women (80% of LTC facility residents) will pay 30% to 40% more. Not all companies have adopted this yet, you might beat the increase. Lastly, inflation in costs, as well as in the benefit which increases automatically to match, means each year that passes means a larger and more expensive purchase.
My policy started 12 years ago and will double in what it pays out every 15 years. If I waited 15 years I would buy twice as much, pay more per unit due to my age, and have to worrry about health issues besides the fact that policies are more expensive now due to increased life expectancy. If you are starting to experience health concerns, maybe you should see me before confirming what you suspect might be a problem.
450 Billion Reasons to Help Consumers
An article in Forbes Magazine recently quoted a study performed by AARP that approximately 42.1 million unpaid caregivers are helping family members with their “limitation in daily activities.” “Caregivers can be children, spouses, siblings or even close friends, but the ‘average’ caregiver is a 49-year-old woman who spends nearly 20 hours per week caring for her mother, a task that continues for nearly five years. Using the average wage for home health aides, AARP calculates that Americans provide $450 billion in unpaid care giving each year, almost as much as total annual Medicare spending.”
“Americans provide $450 billion in unpaid care giving each year, almost as much as total annual Medicare spending.”