What is Long Term Care Insurance and Why Do I Need It?

Long Term Care is the care provided to you that last for a long period of time. This care usually happens during or after a chronic illness or a disability. Long term care consist of helping you with daily activities such as eating, drinking, bathing, dressing and anything else you require help with on a daily basis. Long Term Care also provides you with any medical care you need.

Why Do I Need Insurance For Long Term Care?

Long Term Care is extremely expensive. Average rates for one day in a long term care facility can cost you about $150. At that rate you can quickly run up a bill of thousands of dollars in just a few weeks. Long term care insurance can help to offset the cost of these high medical bills. Without long term care insurance you could quickly deplete your life savings trying to pay the ever increasing medical bills.

I Have Medicare, Isn't That Enough Insurance?

Medicare will cover a very minimal about of your long term care medical expenses. Medicare will only cover you for up to 20 days of long term care. The next 80 days Medicare will pay half of your daily expenses. But that's not all, this medical coverage from Medicare will only apply if you have spent 3 days in the hospital prior to entering into long term care. After that you or your family are stuck with trying to figure how to cover these astronomical medical bills. This may sound like plenty of time to get better but statistics show that half of the people who enter long term care will require assistance for about 6 months. Another 15% of those people will need long term care for about 3 years! Just by adding up a few numbers you can see that one month of care even with Medicare to cover a very few days can still cost you a large sum of money, imagine how much 3 years of long term care will cost!

Who Should Have Long Term Care Insurance?

Anyone who can not afford to pay for their long term care should have a long term care insurance policy. It is never too early to invest in a long term care insurance policy. Not only will a long term care insurance policy cover you if you are affected by a chronicle illness but it will only cover you in the event you are disabled. A disability can happen at any age. Not only is long term care insurance a good investment it is also at an all time love. This means that rates and premiums are dropping and it is a good time to purchase a new long term care insurance policy.