Long Term Care

My experience with caring for my father for seven years left a deep impression on what I would not want my daughters to go through. Getting him up in morning and the the lifting from the bed to the wheelchair, dressing him, bathing, toileting, along with cleaning the occasional incontinence was the normal routine when he first came back home from the rehabilitation hospital. Over the seven years he needed more and more care and 3a.m. cleanings because of his incontinence became the norm. He finally ended up in the nursing home with Medicaid, or welfare, paying for his one year confinement. I learned a lot about long term care and because of that, learned all I could about long term care insurance. I bought my first long term care insurance policy when I was about age 41, well below the average buying age at that time. Long term care insurance has changed quite bit since then and I have changed my policy and increased the benefits and premium to keep it updated with the expense and breadth of long term care services available now.

I have found that those who have experienced long term care up close and personal are the strongest believers and purchasers of long term care insurance. Those without the experience will tend to procrastinate and focus on the policy premium cost rather than the benefit of the coverage. The believers in the insurance focus on not being a burden on the family for care and financial support and purchase what they can afford believing that some amount of insurance coverage is better than nothing. Those that buy the insurance know that Medicare and medical insurance will not cover long term care expenses and the only government program for long term care is Medicaid, or welfare, which requires that you spend down your assets to $2,000 to qualify.

I believe long term care insurance gives the family more options to consider without the expense of the care determining if my daughter would provide more home care to conserve my savings. The insurance will allow her (if I need long term care I would probably not be capable of making my care decisions) to bring in home care service providers so she won't be burdened with my care. This reminds me of a sticker I bought in a store that reads: "Be Kind to Your Kids, They Choose Your Nursing Home".

If you don't have long term care insurance, you should look into it. I believe it's a worthwhile purchase.