Long Term Care Insurance

Activities of daily living (ADL’s) is a term you might have heard that refers to the things we do on a daily basis to take care of ourselves, including bathing, dressing, and using the bathroom. Individuals with many chronic, or Long Term, diseases often have trouble performing some of these ADL’s, and the need for assistance with these activities is a measure used to assess when an individual is eligible to use their Care Insurance benefits.

Depending on your policy, you might have a waiting period before you can access your funds. It is important to ask this question and receive advice from your broker when deciding which policy is best for you. Some policies allow you to start collecting benefits on the day you begin receiving assistance, while others are subject to waiting periods of anywhere from 30 to 120 days? 

Likewise, you will want to seriously consider when is the right time to initiate your claim. The waiting period often corresponds to the benefit period, or the maximum amount of time that the insurance company will pay benefits. Often, the longer the waiting period before benefits begin, the longer the company will pay for your care. Benefit periods are typically three to five years, and correspond to the lifetime benefit cap, or the maximum dollars that will be paid by the insurance company on the policy; these figures are related in terms of the maximum daily benefit over the number of years in the benefit period.

In the next thirty years, the annual cost of Long Term care is expected to increase over 330% to over $300,000 a year for a home care aide and even more for a nursing home or assisted living facility. Currently, home health care services through an agency cost roughly $14 to $28 per hour. On average, individuals from the general population use twenty hours of home care each week for about six months. Those with Long Term Care Insurance use thirteen months of care, on average, at about twenty hours per week. Read this Article for more information.