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Most of them that are left really are a bad buy. You don't get much benefit in the first 10-15 years, and after that the lifetime cap is too meager.
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My parents bought a very generous plan when they were about your age. Cost them about $600 per month for both.... For the benefit it actually paid out they would have been miles ahead to put that same money away and save it. After 25 years of paying into that...the max lifetime cap was $215,000. They would have had far more than that even with low interest on their savings.
Of course, neither one of them lived long enough to use more than $30,000 of benefit!
Also....the benefit qualification was near impossible to meet....they had to have All 5 qualifications.... cannot walk, cannot dress themself, cannot eat (not cook.but actually had to be spoon fed), cannot bath themself, cannot toilet by themselves.
I found the insurance company was constantly looking for any reason to disqualify them. It was a constant fight to get benefits paid. And every 3 months we had to go through the whole thing again, meanwhile the benefit payments would stop. Massive hassle
My mom had long term care insurance. She developed dementia and no longer making wise decisions. Then stopped paying her premiums so the policy lapsed and not reinstated. She paid in for 10 years or so. Money lost, no coverage. Just make sure you set it up so you do not see this money at all so payments continue to be made.
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/08/long-term-care-insurance/index.htm
LTCS: Once a long-term care policy is issued, the insurance company cannot cancel it, unless the premium has not been paid. 13 different companies currently sell new long-term care insurance policies.
KK: "You don't get much benefit in the first 10-15 years, and after that the lifetime cap is too meager."
LTCS: With long-term care insurance, the full benefits are available from the very first premium payment. It doesn't sound like the policy they had was long-term care insurance. It sounds more like an annuity.
KK: "My parents bought a very generous plan when they were about your age. Cost them about $600 per month for both.... For the benefit it actually paid out they would have been miles ahead to put that same money away and save it. After 25 years of paying into that...the max lifetime cap was $215,000. They would have had far more than that even with low interest on their savings."
LTCS: Today a healthy, 70-year old couple, can share $200,000 of benefits for $146 per month per spouse. If the policyholder lives in one of the states that has a long-term care partnership program, their assets can be protected even if the policy runs out of benefits.
LTCS: Long-term care insurance policies that meet the federal guidelines only require assistance with any 2 of the 6 activities of daily living. If these people owned a policy that required needing assistance with 5, then it was definitely not a long-term care insurance policy they owned.
KK: “I found the insurance company was constantly looking for any reason to disqualify them. It was a constant fight to get benefits paid. And every 3 months we had to go through the whole thing again, meanwhile the benefit payments would stop. Massive hassle”
LTCS: This is why it’s important to buy long-term care insurance policies that meet the federal guidelines.
Thanks for that info. My mother has a great LTC policy, which she will never use. Daddy wanted her put in an ALF when she became a burden--well, we're well past that and my POA brother will never allow mother to leave his home. He intends to care for her until death. While that's admirable, he's counting on family help and I am the only one who can offer any--the other 3 sibs are totally MIA and do not want to be involved. Mother is still walking and caring for herself pretty well, but she is bored and lonesome.
We can't get LTC on hubby, he is a liver transplant recipient, but we can on me. I am going to look into it. I am sure I will have to take care of my hubby in his old age, but he would not do the same for me.
As others have said the premiums are prohibitively expensive unless you start in your early 59s then you pay so much in premiums that you would be better off saving the money and investing wisely. Nothing I would consider even if they would have me now.
I don't blame insurance companies. The skyrocketing costs must make this a very difficult coverage to offer.
I'm not giving up what I've paid in on all these years, but I no longer think it is going to be sufficient, if I develop something expensive, like dementia.
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