By: Gary Bleetstein
Partner, Agent Support Group-11-17

 

While Long Term Care is not the easiest topic to discuss or write about, it is one of these things in life that will be weighing on many families for many years.

Yes, people are living longer, however, we must consider their overall conditions and if a parent or sibling is living longer because of a Long Term Care issue, is this any better for society.

November is Long Term Care Awareness Month and it is for this reason I wish to try and point out some important items and issues with Long Term Care.

By now, we should all know how Long Term Care needs are becoming a larger part of our business, even in the high net worth markets. Costs for Long Term Care at home or at a facility are escalating with no real reductions in costs at this time.

The National Median Annual Costs for Long Term Care are –

·       $ 91,250 for private room in a nursing home ($ 7,600 monthly)

·       $ 80,300 for a semi-private room in a nursing home ($ 6,700 monthly)

·       $ 45,760 for Licensed Home Health Aid ($3,800 monthly)

·       $43,200 For Assisted Living ($3,600 monthly)

Let’s just look at one situation – a 75-year-old with full onset of Alzheimer’s. Choices for care become limited without a tremendous amount of family resources and money. Of course most prefer to keep a patient at home rather than in a facility- but this is not always possible. Should the patient require a nursing home in the major cities in the Northeast- these costs can run over $12,000 a month or $ 144,000 a year. If the cost of care for this individual is for 4 years – the costs could be $ 576,000 easily. Where will this money come from? and in the Northeast – these costs could be $ 750,000 or more.

Will it come from and adult child, a spouse, or a domestic partner? or Should you and your client consider protecting assets now and purchasing Long Term Care with Guaranteed Premiums and Benefits? 

I feel strongly that whether a client purchases Long Term Care or Chronic Illness Care- it is our responsibility s advisors, to show our clients what is available to them.

The type of products I recommend to advisors are:

·       Life Insurance with LTC or Chronic Illness Riders – with costs that are guaranteed

·       Linked Benefit Products that provide either single pay or limited pay options for Life Insurance, Annuities with Guaranteed Long Term Care costs and benefits. 

While this is an area of our business that can be difficult to discuss, we need to also realize that it is our job to help educate our clients to assist them in mitigating future risks and what better time to do this than right now –

Long Term Care Awareness Month

Have a Safe and Wonderful Thanksgiving