Long Term Care
What is long term care?
Have you ever known anyone who needed nursing home care or parents who needed their children‘s help with bathing, dressing, toileting, changing diapers, assisting with a transfer from a wheelchair to a bed? Maybe mom or dad needed help with preparing meals or eating those meals? How about those who have Alzheimer’s or dementia?
Long term care is when you can no longer take care of yourself and need assistance with those activities of daily living. or cannot function do to memory loss.
Why the Need?
No Family Caregivers
A century ago women who are the primary caregivers stayed at home with mom or dad to care for them. Today, most women work. They are having children later in life. They may not even live in the same state much less the same neighborhood.
Cost
The average cost for homecare in Virginia is $150 a day to perform those activities of daily living. Industry inflation is 5.8% a year which is expected to triple those daily costs in just 20 years . In a recent national survey, cost of unskilled care at home increased 13% from 2005 to 2006.
One out of two people need it. The average stay in your home or facility care is 5 years.
Asset Protection
Protects your family from financial hardship Long term care gives you choice and dignity.
No matter what level of assets you have, you did not accumulate those assets to pay for your care.
Remember: If you pay, you choose your care. If the government pays, it chooses.
| Myths | Truths |
|---|---|
| Your current health insurance pays for long-term care. | Your health insurance policy covers skilled (short-term, rehabilitative) care. |
| Medicare pays. | Medicare pays a maximum of 100 days in your lifetime for skilled care only. This should not be confused with Medicaid. Medicaid, welfare, in most states, means nursing home only and requires that you spend down to $2,000 in assets.1 |
| The government will cover extra costs. | You can't count on the government. In 1945, there were 40 workers to support one social security beneficiary. In 1995, there were 3.4 workers to every beneficiary and in 2040, there will be 2 workers to every one beneficiary. We can't afford another entitlement program.2 |
| The elderly need long-term care the most. | 40% of those who use long-term care are working-age adults 18 to 64 due to sports accidents, brain tumors and MS...among others.3 |
| Most long-term care recipients are in nursing homes. | Only 18% of those who need long-term care are in nursing homes. Most are being taken care of in their own homes or in assisted living facilities.4 |
| Long-term Disability covers the activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, toileting, etc. | Long-term Disability pays only for normal living expenses such as mortgage and utilities. Long-term Care pays an additional amount each month to cover activities of daily living: bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting, etc. |
What does a Long Term Care Policy Cover?
Long Term Care
Provides activities of daily living: bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting, continence, transfer, cooking, laundry, cleaning, and running errands.
You choose your setting: your home, children’s home, adult group home, assisted living, nursing home and Alzheimer.
If you are interested in discussing long term care further with Kathleen Pitcher, please complete the form below and Ms. Pitcher will contact you within 24 hours.