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Long Term Care Policy - Know These Option FactsHere we are going to move rather quickly to what needs to be considered prior to deciding on a long term care policy. In addition, we will give you some options and other alternatives that might work for your particular situation. The first question that you need to ask is what daily benefit will you need? Research your own family's health history when choosing benefit periods. Have members of your family lived to relatively healthy ripe-old ages, or is there a history of Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia? Then decide on a balance between benefit and cost. Although many long term care policies offer unlimited caps of benefits, such a policy can be very expensive. Decide on the elimination period. This elimination period works like the deductible on your car insurance. With car insurance: the higher the deductible the cheaper is the premium. With long term care insurance: the longer is the elimination period the lower is the premium. Other questions to ask before finalizing a decision on a long-term care policy are: Is the benefit inflation-protected? Is the policy guaranteed to be renewable? Does the policy cover all levels of care, both skilled and unskilled, nursing home, and in-home care? And how are premiums waived? Typically, premiums are waved after 90 days of skilled care. However, read the fine print to see if the days must be consecutive and also, when premiums restart if you get better and go home. MORE OPTIONS An Accelerated Death Benefit (ADB) added to a life insurance policy. An ADB benefits a holder I two ways in that is pays for long term care needs and leaves a death benefit to heirs. The caveat to doing this is that the face value of the life insurance policy must be large enough to pay for long-term care needs. However, an ADB benefit to a life insurance policy for little or no additional cost. Viatical settlements - This is selling your life insurance policy to a third party if one becomes terminally or chronically ill. Usually the amount paid is based on the remaining life expectancy of the insured and when the insured dies, the third party gets the full death benefit. Limited Pay/Long-Term Care Policies This is an option that allows for premiums to be paid for a limited period of time rather than over the life of the policy. Most long-term care policy terms for this are either single pay like the MoneyGuard policy, ten pay, which means paying premiums for 10 years, twenty pay, or 20 years, and to age 65, meaning paying premiums until insured turns 65. There may be other options and choices available that we are not aware of, however a qualified agent should be able to present you with all them. Even so, take steps to find out about the company itself before signing up for any long-term care policy. |