Long-Term Care Insurance for Professionals

Traditional Long-Term Care Insurance 

If you are 55 years of age or older the odds of requiring long-term care are nearly 1-out-of-2. If you're married, which one of you will need it?  You may want to consider the benefits of a long-term care policy, which is really nothing more than providing a disability type benefit in retirement.

There are many carriers with many choices for a long-term care policy. Let us take the confusion out of this complicated process! Our firm routinely monitors the leading long-term care providers to select only those policies that match our overall philosophy for our dentist clients. We structure your policy to match the real world claim statistics of long-term care stays. This process allows us to provide our clients with a comprehensive policy for about one-half of what they have normally been shown. 

Single-Pay with Life Insurance Component

Many of our clients are unaware of a unique type of insurance policy that is available as a single-payment option policy. However this policy is much different than a traditional long-term care policy. The biggest complaint we hear from our clients is they pay out a lot of money over their lifetime, and if they remain healthy they get nothing for it. The single-pay life insurance policy with a long-term care component takes care of that problem.

It is said that if a policy can provide benefits if you live, die or become disabled it would be the perfect policy. If the client dies it pays a life insurance benefit. If the client becomes incapacitated the monthly care reimbursement benefit starts up. If the client remains healthy and needs to use the cash contained in the policy it can be structured as an income stream for life that can't  be outlived. If you have an interest in this type of policy and are willing to commit—based on your age—between $150,000 and $250,000 of initial premium, you may wish to inquire about this unique insurance product.

Myths Vs. Facts About Long-Term Care Insurance

• MYTH: I'm young and healthy, so why do I need long-term care insurance? According to a recent Gallup Poll, 76% of Americans today believe they will never need long-term care services.

• FACT: Currently, almost 1 in 2 people will require some sort of long-term care assistance over the age of 65 and 40% between the ages of 18 and 65!

• MYTH: If I do need Long-term care, the Federal Government will pay for it. Of those, inter-federal government will subsidize their long-term care

• FACT: The Federal Government cannot pay the escalating cost of long-term care. An aging population, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid concerns prevent this from happening. Tax incentives exist to encourage Americans to buy their own long-term care Insurance. In addition, the government offered 21,000,000 federal employees the opportunity to purchase this coverage. Medicare reimburses only some, if any, costs for the first 100 days of care; nothing thereafter. Medicaid is for the neediest in our society. Qualifications for this program also require substantial spend-down of assets.

• MYTH: My children will take care of me.

• FACT: Society has changed dramatically over time. Dual income households and family members living further apart have created great emotional strain for individuals when long-term care situations arise. As a result, maintaining independence and future piece of mind are the main reasons people purchase long-term care Insurance today.

• MYTH: I cannot afford long-term care Insurance.

• FACT: That's probably true IF you wait until later to take out a long-term care policy. In general, the younger you are when you purchase a long-term care policy, the less you'll pay. Waiting until later also means there's a 12% to 23% chance you may not even be eligible for coverage due to a change in your health.