LTCI Protects Your Family's Assets

If you have assets you want to protect for yourself or your dependents, you should consider Long Term Care Insurance. Too many families find themselves financially and emotionally depleted by a family member's long-term care needs. Medicaid covers 60 percent of nursing home patients' costs today, but patients must be impoverished to qualify for Medicaid. With the elderly population rapidly increasing, it is difficult to explain how the government will continue to support Medicaid and other entitlement programs, such as Medicare.

"Only those who have something to lose need Long Term Care Insurance," writes author Ron Iverson in his second book, Guarding You Gold II. "If you have 'considerable' assets, (or will have), or stand to inherit such, you are a candidate for LTCI insurance. The costs of long-term care - at home, in an assisted living facility or a nursing home - have skyrocketed, as utilization has increased, and will double over the next three decades. Costs, which even ten years ago would hot have financially ruined elderly people are now a major concern of retirees and their children alike." [1]

Long-Term Care rates are staggered at the age of purchase, much like life insurance. "The younger you are when you purchase the policy, the less the premium for the life of the insured," Iverson writes. He gives the following sample individual policy's monthly premium for a $120 daily benefit based on the age of the insured person at the time of the policy's purchase. [2]

Age at Purchase	Estimate Monthly Individual Policy Premium
Age 55	$60-70
Age 60	$70-100
Age 65	$100-130
Age 75	$250-320
Age 80	$350-550
Age 85	$400-600

Rates rise dramatically as the policy's utilization grows closer. It is conclusive that families need to seriously consider purchasing LTCI policies at a younger age to protect their family's assets.

Footnotes

Ronald J. Iverson, Guarding Your Gold II. MAS Marketing: Helena, Montana, 2004. Page 13. www.guardingyourgold.com
ibid 15-6.