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Anyone who has tried closing a purchase for a long term care insurance (LTCI) policy knows that prices have skyrocketed. Premium rates have become scary and some people feel it is no longer worth it because it will just be another burden on a family’s everyday financial struggles. However, even before worrying about the recent price hikes, one should first analyze if a written policy is the appropriate solution for his current financial condition. LTCI is not for everyone. Most interested buyers first have a conversation with a LTC agent, such as in this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwTpifPct7s in order to find out if it’s even necessary to get insured. Real Life Situations For example, a buyer who consults with an agent realizes that even after going through the various options in lowering premium costs, he is still not confident that he could make the payments monthly. He sees that his income is not enough to commit to a policy. Low-income earners may find it extremely hard to follow up on their premium payments. If you have savings and assets not totaling more than $200,000, long term care insurance may not be the best solution for you. At any time a need for long-term care arises, low-income earners have a better chance in receiving help from Medicaid. Another good example would be a person who requests for a quote from different insurance companies, but gets turned down every time due to a pre-existing health condition. If you waited too long to do your homework and never really bothered to think about your long-term care needs, by the time you do want some coverage, it might be too late. Older people, around age 65 and up, tend to be denied coverage because insurance companies see them as a high risk due to health problems they’ve developed over time. Do You Need LTCI? Here are tips to help you assess for yourself if long term care insurance is right for you: (a) Know your family’s medical history. Make a good evaluation of your health and medical needs. Seeking advice from your physician is also a great idea. If you know that a chronic illness runs through your family, then setting out a plan for long-term care can be a vital part of your retirement. (b) Do you have savings and assets to protect? If you have children or family members to whom you would like to bequeath any personal savings and assets, having LTCI coverage can be an effective way to protect whatever amount of money and assets you have and prevent them from being depleted by future medical care needs. (c) Think about how much you earn. Like earlier stated, low-income earners might not be able to commit to paying their premiums for long term care insurance. On the other hand, people who have been able to set aside a huge amount as their nest egg, may not even need this type of coverage since they can pay for their LTC expenses through their private savings. For a person who has a nest egg of $2 million or more, he may not even need coverage for long-term care. Middle-income earners are usually the ones who fit into the design of LTCI.
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