How to Shop for Long Term Care Insurance
One of the biggest challenges someone faces in their life is whether or not there will be a time when they will not be able to take care of themselves.

We need help in the first few years of life and often for the last few years of life. As infants we had adults take care of us, but when we are adults (or adolescents) and need assistance who is there to help us and how do we pay for it?

Health insurance and Medicare only cover medically necessary care and only as long as you are getting better. For example if you have an accident or a change of health like a stroke and can't get out of bed yourself or walk, you would be treated until your condition stabilized and then you would be released. If you still couldn't do those things you would either have to go to a facility where the staff will take care of you or return home where your family would take care of you or hire help.

Health insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid do not provide much for home care, assisted living care, custodial care, they primarily cover nursing home care. Where do you want to receive care?

Long Term Care and How to Protect Your Loved Ones
We Often Overlook Those that Will Be Impacted by Our Needing Long Term Care

Here is a perspective given to me by an attorney who had for years worked for his clients to create a Medicaid planning strategy of transferring or sheltering their investments and assets. His clients were in their 40s to 80s and all income ranges and what they shared in common was they had investments or assets that were at risk in case they or their spouses needed long term care.

Then one day a personal experience with his father in a long term care situation changed his attitude and motivation for himself, his family, and his clients. Because of what he and his family experienced with their father and long term care he decided on a new mission: to help others plan for the transition from being able to do things on their own to needing help with the basics of everyday living without creating hardships on those they care about. It was no longer just about the money, it was about loved ones, friends and family.

What he has learned is that the person who had the change of health would be taken care of regardless of their assets, income or investments. The consequences to those that were close to the person needing care was what needed his expertise and attention and soon he discovered that the best way to mitigate those consequences was with long term care insurance. He stopped practicing "Medicaid planning."

He began asking his clients, "You and I don't believe that anything is going to happen to you, but what if the one in a million chance it did?" "Take a moment and consider IF something happened, you had a car accident, a stroke or whatever and you needed a few years of care, are you comfortable with the consequences that would have to those you care about?"

Long Term Health Care Insurance - How Can You Pay for It?
First let's agree on short vs long term health care. Your regular health insurance (Kaiser, Blue Cross, etc) is Short Term Health Insurance. It is designed to help you get better in a short period of time. But what if you get better, you do not require medical attention, but you need help with normal daily activities? This is what long term care is about, and long term care insurance covers what short term health insurance does not cover.

Everyone wants to know how much long-term care insurance costs and when they get the price they often delay purchasing it. What delaying might mean to you.

A fair number of baby-boomers are facing the long term care reality with their parents. Often what happened with the boomer's parents will influence the boomer to do one of two things, get long term care insurance or continue to self-insure.

Some people decide to look into long term care insurance then they get sticker shock, which I will address later. If they do not get insurance they are in effect deciding to self-insure or pay themselves.

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