CPC Percussion

Posts Tagged ‘Nursing Homes’

Have you heard of long term care insurance for so many times but still unaware on how is it going to affect you? The common blunder is that people only consider getting insurance coverage once they get into a point when they are seriously ill, incapable of doing simple chores, and run out of budget for nursing home care. You may have vigorous lifestyle and health today, but someday those comforts will suddenly fade in later years. Long term care insurance, although ideally, saves you from catastrophic experiences of adulthood and retains the life you have had, without worrying that your family’s finances are at stake. Here are some reasons why long term care insurance is important:

1. Having long term care insurance keeps your independence and dignity. How? Some people exhaust their assets for out of pocket expenses on nursing home only to end up bankrupt, while others puts their money in trusts. Without sufficient money or resources to fund for long term care, you may qualify for the federal program called Medicaid. Medicaid beneficiaries receive mediocre services: most nursing homes reject Medicaid patients, and if they do they only offer semi-private with little or no privacy. It’s never that easy to qualify for Medicaid than what you have expected, and if you prefer home care or assisted living then Medicaid is not a good option. Medicaid won’t sign you up for coverage unless you have net assets of $2000 or have your properties under estate recovery. Whether you like it or not, Medicaid will let you stay in nursing home, period. However, if you have long term care insurance you can freely choose which type of setting suits you best and makes you feel comfortable. Assisted living facilities are far better from nursing homes where residents enjoy complete privacy and comfy home-like environment.

2. Married couples may have problems financing LTC. If one spouse needs LTC, the other will be forced to pay for outside caregiver or nursing home care. The money used in paying for the care usually comes from the couple’s savings or combined assets. If the care extends, the spouse may be left with minimal assets for future needs. However, LTCi fixes this issue where your spouse’s assets are protected.

3. Many healthy care giving individual do not consider insurance option and would rather pay their own care without help from anyone. If the care of the disabled or sick family member drags on too long, this can affect the caregiver both mentally and physically.

4. Long term care insurance relieves the burden it could give to your children, spouse, friends, and family members. So when your children or spouse promised to take care of you, the LTCi can help them fulfill that promise. The insurance can pay for additional home health aide or nurse to help your loved one perform care-giving activities.

5. You probably want to pass your hard-earned assets to your children, LTC insurance helps you protect your assets against the cruel cost of long term care so you can save them for your heir/s.

6. They say single men and women may suffer the worst because they are more likely to live alone. These people prefer to get as little help from their friends and relatives and shoulder everything on their own. LTCi helps those single individuals maintain a good lifestyle and health care.

It’s not a surprise that thousands of families across the nation are facing the challlenges of an aging population. The “sandwich” generation, those who are caring for their children as well as their parents, have been feeling the financial pinch of caring for loved ones. Paying the high cost of Elder Care can cost a family thousands of dollars a month. Too many families are unaware of how utilizing a loved one’s life insurance policy can not only pay for Assisted Living and Nursing Home care, but can maintain the standards of living for the remaining spouse.

Not too many financial specialist inform their clients who have purchased life insurance policies with a death benefit over $250,000 that they can utilize a somewhat unknown option on their life insurance to pay for the high cost of Elder Care. It is called a Life Settlement and it can fully take the financial burden off of families who struggle to keep their loved one in a quality facility.

A policy owner has the right to sell his or her life insurance policy to an institution for signifantly more than the cash value of the policy. For example, a life insurance policy with a $500,000 death benefit and a $75,000 cash value can be purchased for $250,000 and up. This money can be used now to pay for assisted living, nursing homes as well as in home services also. The procedure is relatively quick with minimal paperwork.
It is senseless to struggle financially to pay for the needs of elderly loved ones when they can utilize their life insurance policy to pay for care. Many, many times life insurance policies lapse when a loved one goes into assisted living or a nursing home just out of financial neccessity as well as through medicaid planning.

Instead of letting a policy lapse or into surrendership, smart families are looking into life settlements as a funding source for the high expense of Elder Care.

As we see that today generations do not prefer to live with their grandparents or parents, they take them as a burden or the formality that they have to bear. In order to take care of them, there are many home care services available. home care service is the service that provides great care to the person who does not want to leave his home for care. home care agencies provide them same care as they expect in the nursing homes with their own children or by other family member.

They take care of the people, who are getting older, are chronically ill, recovering from surgery or disabled. This service allows senior citizens to remain in their homes and feel the independence, comfort and privacy as they need.

The number of caregivers is increasing day by day. They give special attention to the lifestyle of elderly people that is starting from their routine medical checkups, medicines, picnic, healthy food, security, etc. Some types of care and community services are free of cost which is provided by government and non-governmental organization (NGO). Other are paid services for which you have to pay. Sometimes government programs or your health insurance will help to cover the cost of certain home care services.

There are many benefits that home care agencies provide. The services which they provide are following:-
Personal care assistance such as bathing, washing or getting dressed. Help in chopping and cooking meals. Provide them with all time transport available. Help in laundry and folding their clothes. Provide better quality of life as they have caregiver. Offer the peace of mind that someone else is able to help with the daily responsibilities which are required for elder care. Allow maximum freedom and comfort for the individual. Support families while keeping them together.

On whole the purpose of home care services is to provide homely care to the people who do not want to go to nursing homes at their old age for any support or any care. Caregivers provide great care to such type of people.

As I advise people on care options for their family members, most are surprised to learn about various nuances of insurance coverage as well as the various long term care options available.

See if you can answer these True or False statements.

1) T or F – More people reside in larger assisted facilities and nursing homes than smaller, residential care homes.

2) T or F – Insurance coverage for Homecare is limited only to medically necessary skilled care.

3) T or F – Fewer than 15 percent of the elderly needing care live in nursing homes.

4) T or F – Most of our parents prefer to stay at home and it is the best place for them.

5) T or F – Medicare does not pay for long-term care.

6) T or F – The leading cause of death among seniors (65 years +) are falls.

7) T or F – In order to be eligible for Medi-Cal, you must exhaust your financial assets and have very limited income.

T or F – Less than ten percent of personal care costs in the U.S. are paid by private long-term care insurance.

9) T or F – Long-term care insurance are not for those who are financially secure.

10) T or F – The highest percentage change for cause of death is Alzheimer’s disease.

ANSWERS:

1. False. There are more total residents staying in licensed, Residential Care Homes larger communities with hundreds of residents.

2. False. Though non-medical homecare is not covered by health insurance, some is covered by long-term care insurance. Non-medical or personal assistance may be help eating, bathing, or going to the bathroom. It may be a ride to the doctor or the grocery store, or help balancing a checkbook or cooking dinner.

3. True. Most of us get this care at home or in the home of an adult child or relative, not in a nursing home. In fact, nearly 80 percent of the frail elderly and the disabled live at home.

4. False. Of course each situation is different, but living at home can be lonely and often dangerous. If your mom or dad needs lots of help, there are several options which also may be less expensive than staying at home in a potentially unsafe environment.

5. True. Neither will Medicare Supplement insurance. These programs will pay only for limited nursing home or home health care, and only after a patient is discharged from the hospital.

6. True. In 2006, there were 16,650 fall-related deaths or 37% of all deaths among the elderly. In 2007, 3,134,935 seniors experienced an injury. Most seniors were injured by a fall: 1,927,766 seniors or about 62% of all senior injuries.

7. False. The misconception is you have to spend all your money to qualify for Medi-Cal. This isn’t always true. You may be able to protect your assets by utilizing different legal trusts such as special needs trust, irrevocable trust or a revocable living trust. However, once qualified for Medi-Cal, there are limited long-term care options.

8. True. More than 80 percent of Americans have health insurance, usually through their jobs or from Medicare. Yet only seven percent of us have long-term care coverage. That is the real crisis of the uninsured.

9. False. Long-term care insurance is extremely important for those at any income level. On average, Assisted Living costs are $40,000 per year and Nursing Homes average $82,000 per year. A Long-term insurance option is part of the new Health Reform Plan called The CLASS Act which will offer only minimum coverage, but it’s a start.

10. True. Between 2000-2006, Alzheimer’s disease had a 47.1% increase as cause of death. All other major causes of death decreased – Heart disease (-11.5%), Breast cancer (-0.6%), Prostate cancer (-14.3%), Stroke (-18.1%).