Long Term Care Insurance Question (friendly, 2014, relative, psycho)
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but the problem is , which side of the statistic are you and how devastating to your stay at home spouse would it be if she was impoverished by you having an extended stay ?
Absolutely people in financially unequal partnerships (ie a single income flow) need a plan in place.
Still there are options other than years of high insurance premiums that likely will give zero return. Personally I'd probably go with one of the below, even though I'm not normally a fan of such:
Quote:
- An accelerated death benefit provision in your life insurance policy that may allow you to receive part of your stated death benefit to use as you choose, including long-term care.
- A rider that you buy to add on to your life insurance policy or annuity that provides coverage for long-term care.
That way I still pay out the kazoo to an insurance company but I'm guaranteed to get some of it back. Not so with an LTC policy.
The factor that freaks me re LTC insurance is not the current sky-high cost but the likelihood of premium increases through the years. My pro-insurance state government provides lip service regulation while basically allowing premium increases at will. Is that true in other states, or do some have real protection against them? People say "sign up while you're in your 50's so you'll get a low premium". Will that premium stay "low" (i.e. $250 a month)? Here in Texas it won't, by the time you're in your 70s or 80s it will be double or triple that and your only choices will be to pay or to cancel and lose all the $$ you paid into the policy.
Last edited by biscuitmom; 10-10-2015 at 08:44 AM..
What's new about the Center's research is its more accurate estimate of the length of nursing home stays. The study, by using monthly data instead of annual numbers, finds that people who go into nursing homes stay there for 30 percent less time than previously estimated. The average nursing home stay for a man was less than a year; for women, 17 months. And 45 percent of patients don't stay more than three months.
The research you're referring to was only for nursing home stays.
Those averages do NOT include how long the nursing home residents received care at home before ever going to a nursing home.
Nor do those averages include the vast majority of people who need long-term care and never go into a nursing home.
There's only about 1.5 million people in nursing homes right now.
There are over 10 million people receiving care at home right now.
The probability of receiving care at home is about 7 times greater than needing nursing home care.
Absolutely people in financially unequal partnerships (ie a single income flow) need a plan in place.
Still there are options other than years of high insurance premiums that likely will give zero return. Personally I'd probably go with one of the below, even though I'm not normally a fan of such:
That way I still pay out the kazoo to an insurance company but I'm guaranteed to get some of it back. Not so with an LTC policy.
The factor that freaks me re LTC insurance is not the current sky-high cost but the likelihood of premium increases through the years. My pro-insurance state government provides lip service regulation while basically allowing premium increases at will. Is that true in other states, or do some have real protection against them? People say "sign up while you're in your 50's so you'll get a low premium". Will that premium stay "low" (i.e. $250 a month)? Here in Texas it won't, by the time you're in your 70s or 80s it will be double or triple that and your only choices will be to pay or to cancel and lose all the $$ you paid into the policy.
Your statement would be correct if long-term care insurance companies were allowed to price their new policies, available for sale today, the same way they priced their policies 10 to 20 years ago.
Fortunately, insurance regulators do NOT allow any policy purchased today to use the old pricing assumptions.
41 states have passed very strict pricing regulations for any policy purchased today.
Now that’s good news and that’s bad news. The bad news is that a policy purchased today costs more than a similar policy that was purchased 10 years ago.
The good news is that since today’s policies are priced more conservatively they are less likely to have a premium increase.
But, most importantly, any policy purchased today is protected from the pricing mistakes of policies sold years ago.
For example, if an insurance company is losing money on a policy form it sold in 2004, the insurance company CANNOT raise rates on the newer policy forms to try to make up for the losses on the older 2004 policy form. New policy forms are protected from the old pricing mistakes.
There’s a short, educational video that explains this at the following link:
The research you're referring to was only for nursing home stays.
Those averages do NOT include how long the nursing home residents received care at home before ever going to a nursing home.
Nor do those averages include the vast majority of people who need long-term care and never go into a nursing home.
There's only about 1.5 million people in nursing homes right now.
There are over 10 million people receiving care at home right now.
The probability of receiving care at home is about 7 times greater than needing nursing home care.
odds are 77% we will need some form of long term care at some point .
Your statement would be correct if long-term care insurance companies were allowed to price their new policies, available for sale today, the same way they priced their policies 10 to 20 years ago.
Fortunately, insurance regulators do NOT allow any policy purchased today to use the old pricing assumptions.
41 states have passed very strict pricing regulations for any policy purchased today.
Now that’s good news and that’s bad news. The bad news is that a policy purchased today costs more than a similar policy that was purchased 10 years ago.
The good news is that since today’s policies are priced more conservatively they are less likely to have a premium increase.
But, most importantly, any policy purchased today is protected from the pricing mistakes of policies sold years ago.
For example, if an insurance company is losing money on a policy form it sold in 2004, the insurance company CANNOT raise rates on the newer policy forms to try to make up for the losses on the older 2004 policy form. New policy forms are protected from the old pricing mistakes.
There’s a short, educational video that explains this at the following link:
Absolutely people in financially unequal partnerships (ie a single income flow) need a plan in place.
Still there are options other than years of high insurance premiums that likely will give zero return. Personally I'd probably go with one of the below, even though I'm not normally a fan of such:
That way I still pay out the kazoo to an insurance company but I'm guaranteed to get some of it back. Not so with an LTC policy.
The factor that freaks me re LTC insurance is not the current sky-high cost but the likelihood of premium increases through the years. My pro-insurance state government provides lip service regulation while basically allowing premium increases at will. Is that true in other states, or do some have real protection against them? People say "sign up while you're in your 50's so you'll get a low premium". Will that premium stay "low" (i.e. $250 a month)? Here in Texas it won't, by the time you're in your 70s or 80s it will be double or triple that and your only choices will be to pay or to cancel and lose all the $$ you paid into the policy.
i looked in to the linked benefit policy's that are tied in to life insurance . they are a no go in my opinion because of two major points .
there is no inflation protection which down the road could leave your assets exposed if the amount does not cover the LTC expenses .
WITH LTC THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BEING A LITTLE SHORT .you either can pay the bills or have to go on medicaid with the asset and income issues .
the other reason is i would have to fork over a few hundred k and you get no interest . in effect the interest buys the policy which usually gives you 2x what you pay as death benefit and 3x for LTC usage .
I WOULD HAVE HAD TO TIE UP SO MUCH MONEY AT ZERO THAT JUST INVESTING IT IN MY PORTFOLIO WOULD GENERATE ENOUGH TO PAY OUR PREMUIM AND HAVE LOTS LEFT OVER IN GAINS .
so a linked benefit policy was a last resort if i could not qualify for some reason .
our increase for 2016 was about 12% and our policy was brand new last year . got the new bill yesterday .
we do get a 5% inflation adder each year so i guess the increase is part of that number .
long term care is so costly that insurers are still trying to find a level . gensworth lost 760 million posting it's 2nd straight loss .
it seems those numbers of folks needing care are still growing and exceed industry statistics and costs going up every year big time .
Premiums for long-term care insurance canNOT go up every year unless you have one of the policies where the premium goes up every time the daily benefit goes up.
with inflation protection which is really a must that is what happens . but even so , that is a 5% adder . premiums jumped from 6900 to 7900 for the two of us , , not 12% , i was wrong , it is 15% .
i am 63 and my wife 65
the issue is the insurers are finding the statistics are still wrong . there are so many more folks utilizing in home care now that they have policy's then they imagined .
it is like those folks who don't go to the dentist much and then get a dental plan at some point .
Last edited by mathjak107; 10-10-2015 at 01:38 PM..
it is what it is because there are not a lot of choices when it comes to partnership plans . i wouldn't bother with the insurance if it was not for the partnership perks .
looking on line it looks like most insurers got 9-15% rate hikes passed for next year depending on location . you can google it . .
our increase for 2016 was about 12% and our policy was brand new last year . got the new bill yesterday .
we do get a 5% inflation adder each year so i guess the increase is part of that number .
long term care is so costly that insurers are still trying to find a level . gensworth lost 760 million posting it's 2nd straight loss .
it seems those numbers of folks needing care are still growing and exceed industry statistics and costs going up every year big time .
I just read your prior posts and understand that you have a NY State Partnership policy.
That's great.
Your increase this year was not due to the 5% increase in your benefits.
Every NY State Partnership policy increases your benefits each year and the growth in the benefits does NOT make the premium go up.
Your premium went up because that particular policy has been on the market for several years and used some of the older pricing assumptions.
Your benefits will increase every year by 5% compounded growth.
Your policy does not have planned premium increases each year.
This year was an exception.
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