As long term care makes its way to the forefront of the mainstream news, largely in part because of the Congressional Commission on Long Term Care, more Americans are finally beginning to understand the implications of this type of care.
Too Big to Ignore
Long term care is something that the majority of people simply don’t want to think about, so they simply don’t. Instead of trying to plan for the risk of long term care, too many people ignore the risk of long care and wrongly assume someone else will pay for their care should they ever need any assistance. Unfortunately, that assumption is incorrect.
Though many still believe Medicare or health insurance cover the cost of long term care, neither are structured to do so. Medicare may cover care for a brief amount of time, but only if you meet a number of requirements, including a 3 day hospital inpatient stay, which is not the case for most people who end up needing care.
Because 7 in 10 American seniors will need long term care at some point, it is important to consider your chances when you are mapping out your retirement plans. Have you allotted money for health expenses in retirement? A long term care situation can set you back hundreds of thousands of dollars if you haven’t established a plan in advance, so now is the time to do so.
Coverage and Peace of Mind
Whether you want to acknowledge your own risk of long term care or not, the truth is, it exists. Ensuring that you are ready when the time comes will help in a number of different ways by alleviating stress that most people experience when hit with a large medical bill.
Long term care coverage helps you avoid this stressful experience by helping you pay for the cost of care at a much lower rate than it would be out-of-pocket. This type of insurance helps protect your hard earned retirement nest egg from the risk of depletion. The last thing you want after spending years accumulating assets is to lose it all because you need medical attention or day to day assistance with tasks.
Factoring long term care into your retirement plans will put you ahead of the curve and give you peace of mind that you won’t be thrown into financial chaos should you ever need care.
Retirement Plan
Americans are delaying retirement at a higher pace than ever, many pushing it back to 70 and sometimes even later. Working into retirement has become more common in an age where life expectancies and day to day costs both continue to increase.
A recent Northwestern Mutual study identified some of the issues people are facing when planning for retirement and found that the average expected age of retirement is now 78.
Read more about planning for long term care or if you are interested in long term care coverage, request a personalized quote today with a comparison of all the top companies.