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LONG-TERM CARE
why you may need coverage
Long-term care (also called "LTC")
is the personal care and other related services provided on an extended basis to people
who need help with activities of daily living or who need supervision due to a severe
cognitive impairment. This type of care is considered skilled care, non-skilled care,
or custodial care as opposed to acute or rehabilitative care.
When you need long term care, you usually need help with your activities of daily living.
These are items such as bathing, dressing, toileting, continence, eating, and transferring.
Or, you may be able to do all of your activities of daily living but still need care
and supervision due to a severe cognitive impairment (memory loss, dementia, etc.).
You may be able to dress yourself, but you may not remember to take your medications.
Long-term care can be received in a variety of settings. The setting is usually determined
by your support system (your family, attending physician, or someone qualified to develop
a plan of care) that you have and the reason that you need long term care. Some needs can
easily be taken care of at home, while others would be better cared for in a nursing home.
Long-term care is not a subject that most of us care to dwell on. However, the
failure to discuss or plan for the high cost of long term care is causing many American
families to be unprepared to meet the high costs of long term care.
Long-Term Care Coverage: Why You May Need It
Due to advances in our medical technology, our society has been blessed with an increasing
average life span. Today, we are living almost twice as long as our ancestors did only 100
years ago. Unfortunately, along with this comes the drawback that the longer we live,
the more likely we may need long term care before we die.
It is human nature to think that YOU will never need long term care. After all, things like
that happen to OTHER people, right? That is what most of us would like to believe. Because
we don't think it will happen to us, we are often reluctant to plan ahead for future
long term care needs. The reality is that there is a strong possibility that you will need
some type of long term care at some point in your life.
While many older people need long term care, it is important not to overlook that young
people can need long term care too. In fact,
over 40% of Americans receiving long term care are under 65 years of age!
It is never too early to plan for your future
long term care needs. Some common reasons that young people can need long term care are:
strokes, Parkinson's disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and accidents to name just a few.
People may have a hard time admitting that they could need long term care because they
associate long term care with nursing homes. None of us can imagine ourselves being in
nursing homes. In fact, we may live our lives promising our parents that we will NEVER
put them in a nursing home. A nursing home is the LAST place we would like to receive care!
The good news is that a nursing home is probably the last place you will have to go. Today,
there are so many more options that weren't available before. Now it is possible to stay
at home or live in an assisted living facility, rather than go to a nursing home.
"I want to thank you, Martha Rothaus, for your expert knowledge and enthusiasm in
promoting long term care, [and your] common sense approach to needs, benefits
and the client."--Bernard G. Stroke, World Insurance
click here for more information
Martha Rothaus
is a certified long term care insurance specialist (CTLC)
and senior advisor (CSA) serving Greater Miami, Dade and South Florida.
As an independent agent, respected broker and trusted financial planner,
Rothaus Insurance will assist you in making informed, objective decisions
about the tax and other advantages of long term care reimbursement and LTC
cash indemnity insurance policies in health care, nursing care management
and retirement planning. For a FREE LTC CONSULTATION,
click here.
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