What policy is right for you?
You only have to open a newspaper or switch on the television to see stories about rising health costs. Insurance companies are pushing up their premiums, restricting the people they accept. You should think about protecting your assets and avoiding dependence on your family for every aspect of your care. Long-term care insurance (ltc insurance) is affordable for someone in his or her middle age and in good health. Wait until you are in your sixties and the annual premiums will be high. The question is whether you want to cramp your lifestyle a little now so that you can be more confident about the future. As a simple rule of thumb:
if you have the spare cash now and the premiums will remain affordable in the foreseeable future, you should do it.
Look for a good mixture of cover, both at home and in residential homes. Ask what the weekly or month sum will be to cover expenses. Remember, if that amount is too low, you will have to top it up out of your own savings. How long will the benefits be payable - just a few years or the rest of your life? Will the benefits be inflation-proofed? Finally, two key issues: will the policy be renewed if you pay the premiums, and will the policy cover Alzheimer’s and dementia? It would be unfortunate if the ltc insurance company could decline to renew the policy when you grew older and were more at risk.
