Recently, I had an opportunity to get together with some gentlemen from Genworth Financial. It was an exciting meeting on many fronts, as it was all good news. It was refreshing to hear something good in light of all the health care and economic changes.
On January 1, 2010, there were some provisions to the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006 that went into effect that will have a large impact on how you plan and pay for a long term care insurance. I think most people see the increasing need for long term care, but who can afford (especially today) to pay for it? Or, what if the care is never needed, then what? Does all that money go down the drain? Not necessarily. There are some good solutions now and with an excellent company.
I think most people today would agree that having a plan to protect family members from a long term care event is important and essential. With advancing technology, procedures and medications, people that might have died or been permanently disabled from a cardiovascular event or stroke, now can be treated and go on to live a full life. So the fact is that people today are living longer, and as we live longer, our bodies naturally begin to break down. The possibilities of needing some sort of part time care leading to full time care sometime in the future are strong. And let’s face it, if and when care is needed, you will want to have a plan and options.
Simply having the control, a professional care manager that can step in, talk to family members, show you all your different options, make recommendations and then make all the arrangements for you, is huge. Whether you need professional or non professional care at home, a combination of the two, and/or eventually around-the-clock care, life stops. Not for the one that needs the care, but for mom, dad, son, daughter, sister, brother; the rest of the family. You might think when a family member has a life changing event you can help them, but I can tell you first hand that you really can’t. You think you can and you feel you should know everything to do, but you don’t and you won’t. When you have a plan, the family member needing care gets the care they need and the family members get to keep their life (in a sense) and are able and ready to give that extra loving care and attention that is now needed.
I know that all of us would do everything within our power and call on God above, to get the help our family members need, but it does not make us stronger in fact, we get run down. Some of us can bounce back, but for other family members like the affected spouse, it can just make situations even more desperate. If you would like to get a better understanding of long term care insurance and how it works, please click General Info and that can get you started. We use many vendors for long term care and there is not one size that fits all, however, there are some great new ways to pay for it using tax free money. Tax free money that is probably sitting on the sidelines these days earning next to nothing that could be paying for your long term care premiums. Also, there is an excellent solution to the second scenario, “what if we don’t need it after-all?” Now there are some products that solve that as well; how about getting your premiums less any claims back or perhaps a built-in life policy that pays a death benefit which could be used by your children to pay the estate taxes and burial. Now that makes sense, having a long term care policy that can also act as a life insurance policy if you do use your long term care benefits; that makes the decision much easier.
You may not be able to afford it now and maybe the best you can do is have a plan; that’s ok. However, maybe, you or family members have it available in different products, stuck at a low rate of interest but you did not realize you could transfer part of it out without a tax event. It’s worth looking into. Let me know if I can help and/or if you would like to attend a seminar we will be having soon.
