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| Why Should You Buy Long-Term
Care Insurance? |
1. It will help you keep
your independence and dignity. Here's how. . . some of
you will spend all your assets on care while others plan
to give their money away or put it in trust. With no
assets you will now qualify for a welfare program called
Medicaid. Medicaid typically pays for a semiprivate room
in a nursing home, and; not all nursing homes take
Medicaid patients. In many states it's not easy to get
Medicaid to cover home care or pay for assisted living.
Many people want to stay at home, but with Medicaid may
not be able to. And assisted living is rapidly becoming
a preferred alternative to nursing home care for certain
disabilities but Medicaid may insist on a nursing home
instead.
A nursing home is not the most
desirable place to finish out one's life. For many, a
terminal stay in a nursing facility robs them of a
purpose in life and strips away their dignity. As an
example, have you ever thought of the indignity of being
bathed, toiletted or diapered in a nursing home
environment? No wonder many people express the desire to
die before ever having to go into a nursing home.
For some conditions a nursing home is the only
alternative, but for many long-term care patients there
are more options than nursing homes. A good long
term-care insurance policy covers those options and when
all else fails, it pays for nursing homes too.
2. If you are married and you have a need
for long-term care, your spouse may be forced to pay for
an outside care giver. The cost is likely to come from
your combined income and assets. If the need for paid
care drags on too long, your spouse may be left with
minimal cash assets for future needs. Insurance solves
this problem and allows your spouse to keep the assets.
3. Many healthy care-giving spouses won't
spend their money and choose to "tough it out" on their
own without help. If care of a disabled spouse drags on
too long, this can have a devastating effect on the
physical and emotion health of the caregiver. Surveys
reveal that even though healthy caregivers often don't
spend their money for help, they will use insurance if
available. Insurance allows the healthy caregiver to buy
much-needed respite from paid professionals, while at
the same time, retaining the assets and possibly
avoiding an early death from the mental and physical
stress of caregiving.
4. If your children
or extended family promise to take care of you when the
time comes, insurance will help them do that. Probably
you nor your children have thought of the prospects of
moving you from place to place, changing your dirty
diapers, cleaning up after "accidents" in the bathroom
or helping you with bathing and dressing. Insurance will
pay for aides to help with these tasks.
5. If you are single and a need for
long-term care arises, insurance can pay for and
coordinate that care. With insurance you won't have to
feel you would be a burden for family or friends.
6. If you have the desire to leave assets
behind when you die, insurance will help preserve those
assets from the cost of long term care.
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