Why Should I Care About Long Term Care?
As our retiree clients start to age, one question is always on their mind, healthcare! They are concerned about costs, exposure, and need. When discussing retiree healthcare concerns with our clients, there is one area that always comes up, Long Term Care needs. This becomes a concern for many as this exposure isn’t covered under health and Medicare insurances. Because of this insurance gap it leaves retirees unprotected from what could be costly financially and emotionally.
That said let’s take a deeper dive into the esoteric world of long term care. Figured what better spot to start than a brief explanation. According to LongTermCare.gov, LTC is a range of services and supports you may need to meet your personal care needs. “Most long-term care is not medical care, but rather help with the basic personal tasks of everyday life, sometimes called Activities of Daily Living (ADLs).” There are generally six ADLs that are referred to in determining ones need for long term care assistance. They are:
What is Long Term Care:
1. Eating
2. Dressing
3. Transferring
4. Bathing
5. Using a toilet
6. Caring for incontinence
These will be important as we discuss the potential need for long term care insurance.
Probability of needing LTC:
What is the threat of you actually needing long term care? This is the natural question we must answer as we determine our exposure. With the increasing advancements of medicine the statistics are quite staggering. The lifetime chance of needing some assistance if you are age 65 is 79% if you are a female, and 58% chance if you are a male! Scary right? Even scarier if you are a female since men have a higher probability of passing away of something sudden like a heart attack. I can tell you of my 4 grandparents all of them needed long term care needs in their lifetime. Naturally the longer you live the higher the probability you’ll need this care.