Have you considered Long Term Care Insurance? Did you know that once you reach 65 the chances you’ll need some kind of long term care during your later years will increase to about 40%? That’s a pretty sobering statistic. If you haven’t thought about it before now and you’re approaching 40 or 50 it might be time to begin seriously thinking about not if, but, rather when you will purchase it. My partner, Michael, and I have both had the discussion about how we’ll handle aging and the potential health pitfalls that may cause one or both of us to require long term care.
Even more sobering is that it may not even be your own family medical history that could require the use of long term care. My parents were in a car wreck on March 26th of this year and my father has now been permanently disabled because of it. He is only 70 years old and he had been in great physical and mental health prior to the accident. He now has been through 5 medical facilities and is now in a nursing home where he continues to get physical therapy. While we hope that he’ll continue healing enough to perhaps go home some day the chances are also good that he may never leave the facility where he now resides. The place where he is staying is about $5,500 per month and this cost doesn’t include his prescriptions or his doctor’s care. You can imagine that this would be almost impossible for the family to handle if my parents hadn’t prepared early and purchased long term care insurance several years ago which should cover about 2/3 of the cost.
What is the other major reason you might consider buying LTC insurance? Family medical history. Michael’s family has a lot of medical issues that lead us to believe that a LTC policy will be a good move for him and most likely to be purchased prior to him turning 50. I am adopted and therefore don’t know my own family medical history – but given that I have had other medical issues throughout my lifetime I am considering it for myself at least by 50. The older you get the harder it is to be approved for a policy and it’s cheaper the earlier you buy it. Consider looking into it as part of your long term financial planning.
