Long Term Care Insurance
Care Insurance is great for home health care
People often associate Long Term care and Long Term Care Insurance with only nursing homes. However, just the opposite is true. Over 7.6 million individuals currently receive home health care because of acute illnesses, Long Term health conditions, permanent disability or terminal illness.
Benefits of Long Term Care Insurance
A majority of people are most comfortable in their own environment where they feel safe and close to people they trust they love. Long Term Care Insurance offers the home health care option that promotes an individual’s independence and ability to continue with their normal, daily routine as long as possible.
Generally, skilled nursing services are provided by home health care agencies; often this agency will be associated with other home health care agencies in your area that can provide a higher level of care through nursing in the home when those services become necessary. However, home health care can be a highly effective interim solution for individuals who are not sick enough to need nursing services but just need a little help to stay safe and independent in their homes.
Long Term Care Insurance will reimburse you for whatever home health care service you choose, and of course, you want your benefits to last as long as possible so remember to always use a trusted, professional caregiver from an agency to keep you safe and independent in your home.
What home care services will Long Term Care Insurance cover and how much does this cost?
Activities of daily living (ADL’s) is a term you might have heard that refers to the things we do on a daily basis to take care of ourselves, including bathing, dressing, and using the bathroom. Individuals with many chronic, or Long Term, diseases often have trouble performing some of these ADL’s, and the need for assistance with these activities is a measure used to assess when an individual is eligible to use their Care Insurance benefits.
Depending on your policy, you might have a waiting period before you can access your funds. It is important to ask this question and receive advice from your broker when deciding which policy is best for you. Some policies allow you to start collecting benefits on the day you begin receiving assistance, while others are subject to waiting periods of anywhere from 30 to 120 days?
Likewise, you will want to seriously consider when is the right time to initiate your claim. The waiting period often corresponds to the benefit period, or the maximum amount of time that the insurance company will pay benefits. Often, the longer the waiting period before benefits begin, the longer the company will pay for your care. Benefit periods are typically three to five years, and correspond to the lifetime benefit cap, or the maximum dollars that will be paid by the insurance company on the policy; these figures are related in terms of the maximum daily benefit over the number of years in the benefit period.
In the next thirty years, the annual cost of Long Term care is expected to increase over 330% to over $300,000 a year for a home care aide and even more for a nursing home or assisted living facility. Currently, home health care services through an agency cost roughly $14 to $28 per hour. On average, individuals from the general population use twenty hours of home care each week for about six months. Those with Long Term Care Insurance use thirteen months of care, on average, at about twenty hours per week. Read this Article for more information.