Armed For Long Term Care Costs

By Author: Hilarie Ellis
Total Articles: 13
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One of the ideal ways to hedge your finances against the increasing cost of care is through long term care ins, as this is a much talked about hedging tool but ironically, only a few has it.

Practically everybody in the country knows how advantageous it is to receive coverage from a private long term care insurance (LTCI) but unfortunately, only a few are confident enough to secure LTCI policies.

Research has shown that majority of uninsured folks in the country are not in doubt of what they can receive from LTCI but of their capacity to maintain their annual premiums. Aside from this, the uncertainty of LTCI premium rates is another factor that is hindering them from a potential coverage.

Perhaps what they need to understand is the fact that buying their policies early will spare them from the possibility of acquiring a rated coverage. As for possible premium hike, this is not something that happens on a yearly basis because before insurance firms can increase LTCI premiums they have to get approval from the state insurance ...
... commissioner first.

In addition, insurance companies would oftentimes increase the premiums of LTCI policies that were initially priced too low or else the benefit claims that they will receive later on will turn out to be much higher than the total premiums that they have actually collected.

Keep in mind that a fairly priced LTCI policy does not have to go through series of premium hikes so when looking for coverage avoid pouncing on a policy which is priced unreasonably too low.

Examining Long Term Care Ins

There are three general types of LTCI policies that you can choose from. The most common type is the reimbursement policy and perhaps its name alone is self-explanatory as to how it operates.

People with reimbursement LTCI policies will be able to reimburse their total expenses on care up to their maximum daily benefit amount. If their LTC expenses would exceed the total amount of their insurance benefits they will have to foot the excess amount with their resources.

Then there’s indemnity LTCI policy which is much preferred by a lot of buyers but unfortunately, very few people can afford this type of plan because it is more expensive than the reimbursement policy.

Unlike reimbursement policies, an indemnity plan will pay an insured individual’s exact maximum daily benefit amount regardless of his actual cost on care. However, he has to present a proof of acquiring qualified services before he can receive a check from his insurer that stipulates his maximum benefit amount.

Now individuals who are eyeing for Medicaid coverage will be glad to know that there is such an LTCI policy that works in tandem with Medicaid and this is called the Partnership LTCI policy. With this type of policy the insured individual can instantly apply for Medicaid assisted-coverage without spending down his assets after he has exhausted his insurance benefits.

Partnership qualified LTCI policies bear the Medicaid asset protection feature so for every dollar that the insured receives from his LTCI policy he gets to disregard a dollar of his assets from Medicaid’s spend down rule.

Find out more about the unique features and benefit packages of each long term care ins policy. Contact your broker today.

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