Why take out long term care insurance?

Having long term care insurance should be considered even if you are relatively young and healthy.

14:33 17 October 2013

Long term care insurance steps in when Medicare, health insurance or Medicaid do not include long term care to their members.  It becomes applicable when an individual is no longer able to carry out the necessary activities to live normally such as walking, eating, bathing, or just getting in and out of bed.

Though debilitating illnesses are usually attributed to elderly individuals, the condition can set in even at a younger age than 65.  A growing number of individuals contract Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s at a younger age from 18 to 64 while some individuals start to have dementia at 50.  When these diseases set in, then long term care becomes a necessity, otherwise it would be quite impossible to continue living life to an acceptable level on your own. 

It would be ideal if such long term care can be given to all individuals who have been religiously paying their taxes for all of their productive lives.  Alas, the UK’s health budget is greatly diminished and may not be able to provide this service to younger patients in the near future.

 

What is covered by long term care insurance? The coverage is quite comprehensive as it will provide nursing care or admission to nursing homes, home care and day care services for adults, special care treatments for illness such as dementia, hospice care, respite care and ADL assistance, among others.

There are various types of long-term care insurance policies, some of them are listed below:

• pre-funded care plans
• immediate needs annuities
• enhanced annuities
• savings and investments
• equity release plans

Perhaps long term care insurance may not be as popular as dedicated life or accident policies, but it is equally important if not more.  Having this kind of coverage will spell the difference between continuing to live life within acceptable levels despite having these illnesses and just trying to survive from day to day.