Expert Author: Clay Cotton | Category: Insurance LTCi policies can help you avoid being a burden, depending on others for care. They also help you protect and preserve precious assets and keep control of your financial affairs, ensure a higher standard of living and give you far greater choices should you need home health or continuing care, which nearly half of us will.
We've all heard the horror stories about elderly people who can't take care of themselves moving into costly nursing homes and "outliving their money."' As Americans live longer, more and more of us will need some sort of long-term care, and the insurance industry has a blizzard of policies to help pay for it.
Expert Author: Clay Cotton | Category: Insurance Conseco and Penn Treaty Long Term Care insurance companies must be biting their nails to the quick, as the House Committee on Energy and Commerce breathe down their necks and the General Accountability Office closes in.
Retirement planning is an pretty emotional subject. For everyone, there is a 10-year period of time, "the five years before and the five years after retirement" that is especially critical. This 10-year period has been dubbed as "The Retirement Zone".
"Know Thyself and Thy Situation" is a financial planning rule that applies to accounting for financial events that have a high probability of happening. We're talking about about unpredictable emergencies and catastrophes. Especially, you must insure for your likelihood of long term care, for which there is a 50/50 chance, but only if you plan to live past age 65.
Everybody envisions the golden years as a time to relax away from the stresses and strains of working life, but for for many baby boomers it may be a far different picture.
In "Minding Our Elders" Carol Bursack turns to the heros in our midst, folks who have been there - done that, sharing not only her own touching experiences, but those of her caregiving peers in a delightfully well- crafted, easy going style. We get an all-too-needed vie into what it's like to grow older and need care, but also how the caregiving process is actually played out.
When choosing your long term care insurance, it's a very good idea to enlist the expertise of an insurance coverage contract lawyer in the beginning, rather than waiting until being denied. Just know that lawyers are pricey, so be prepared to spend some extra cash for this last step.
Long term care insurance coverage simply MUST be considered by everybody who can medically qualify for this important coverage. Why? For starters here are 10 good reasons...
Expert Author: Clay Cotton | Category: Finance Long term care facilities say that the money which Medicaid provides for patient care simply isn't enough to cover costs.
When long term care insurance was first conceived and offered, back in the 1980's, most LTCi premium rates were much lower than today's policies. Why have they increased so much and why are long term care insurance companies raising premiums on existing policies?
Every insurance policy is a legal contract. Once agreed upon by both parties, a long term care insurance company must uphold their contract to the letter, or risk lawsuits and regulatory prosecution. Each policy is crafted with utmost care using the probabilities of actuaries, as well as contract lawyers' keen legaleze, and here's how to navigate the decision process.
Hey - If I had known that official government policy toward caring for elderly parents was that their children would have to do it all, well I would have had 10 kids.
Prior generations retired after working at one company for 25-30 years, and after that stint, they then retire and get a pension plan. Retirees had a small house paid for, a nice Social Security check and a pension. Add to that a life expectancy of around 70 years, and you'll have a perfect retirement plan.
There are big changes coming to retirement plans. In August 2006, President Bush signed into law the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). This law affects both employee funded plans such as 401(k)s and traditional defined benefit pension plans.
Many retirees, especially us baby boomers, want to retire from their careers yet become involved in other areas such as social and health services.
More than 1/3 of U.S. residents contacted indicated they would turn to family and friends for long term care, a new survey shows.
Expert Author: Clay Cotton | Category: Insurance Prominent long term care insurance carrier Penn Treaty recently announced that it will discontinue offering the "unlimited lifetime" benefit option on all new policy forms as of 1/1/2007. Will other insurance companies follow suit? We think so, as the industry adjusts to changes in the all-too-real world of care and care giving.
Caregiving is not the kind of topic that makes for pleasant chit-chat over tea, much like long term care and long term care insurance. Yet these are crucial issues to address boldly with vigor and verve, if you want future years to unfold gracefully.
A medical power of attorney and living will are crucial estate planning steps, and like long term care insurance, must be set in place early in life for optimal protection.
