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What is the current conventional thinking regarding Long-Term Care Insurance? Can you reach a point of wealth that you no longer need to carry LTC? The premiums start out small and increase over time. By then, your wealth should have increased, so does it make financial sense to continue paying the premiums?
We don't have it and never had it. My husband worked in the insurance industry and thinks it's a bad investment. Our financial advisor has it.
I suspect a number of LTCI companies are going to be in a bind as people age and live longer. They will be forced to pay more and more out. Some of these companies likely will not survive; even if they do premiums are likely to escalate to the point that many will not be able to continue to pay. If I was going to do LTC, it would only be with an insurance company that does business in a number of areas and only with one that has very high ratings (ie., Comdex score).
This is the long term "gamble"
I'm always worried when wallstreet/insurance guys are collecting checks today for a return you need 20+ years out. All their salaries/bonuses and lackluster returns = a client who gets nothing.
I had one grandparent drop dead in the garage, the other had a stroke/dementia and lasted 10 years in a nursing home. They took good care of them in the home but it was a miserable existence. Put me down for the drop dead in the garage idea instead!
...... She does have a LTC policy which helps tremendously. That benefit plus her SS had been covering the cost, although that's no longer true after this year's rate increase.
You have to keep paying the premium even while you're in the home?
Uhm, did I know that and forget that part? (Rhetorical, of course)
Wow, If I did hear it...I forgot that.
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Originally Posted by hikernut
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I wouldn't mind carrying some LTC insurance, but there's really no way to plan. How much could the premium increase over the next 20 years? 2x? 5x? 10x? There seems no way to guess, and I'm loath to pay into a policy for years and then end up having to abandon it late in life.
Yeah, that's a consideration of mine also.
I know it wouldn't be true necessarily, but I'd sure feel like that money was wasted/poured down the drain. It wasn't because I would have had coverage IF I had needed it...and that is after all what you're paying for...but still.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hikernut
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IMO, there should be a way for married people to legally separate their assets without getting divorced. Then, for example, if I needed LTC my half of the assets would be fair game, but I wouldn't have to worry about my wife being left in a financial bind. Is there a way to accomplish this?
Yeah but you know how people try to game a system. Would the law that permitted that HAVE to stipulate the assets are split 50/50. If not what's to keep them from putting put all the assets in one of their name's, and take a chance on which might not need care.
Not all marriages are happy or created equal. Heck , there are people who are still married but haven't lived to gather for over 20 years.
I'm not married. I don't know HOW they'd try to game it and don't need to think of the particulars of how they'd do it. But they would try. Believe me. They do it now by getting divorced and still being together. I heard. long time ago one person's loophole is another person's lawful, legal opportunity.
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As an aside let's remember that technically LTCI isn't just for seniors. While visiting my elderly cousin in a nursing home, I saw quite a few people EASILY under 40, and a few under 30.
A motorcycle, biking or car accident, a fall down the stairs, a freak sporting accident -- any of these could put even a teenager in need of home or nursing care. It's just that at younger ages parents become the caretaker...because they're young enough to do it. But what if the person is thirty to 35? Parents could be in their 70s...siblings by that time have their own lives.....
So it's not just for the elderly. That's why I pondered whether one should pay for it say from 25 to 55....or when ever their assets would allow them to self insure. Why not consider it like term insurance? Drop it once you think you're OK without it.
As an aside let's remember that technically LTCI isn't just for seniors. While visiting my elderly cousin in a nursing home, I saw quite a few people EASILY under 40, and a few under 30.
A motorcycle, biking or car accident, a fall down the stairs, a freak sporting accident -- any of these could put even a teenager in need of home or nursing care. It's just that at younger ages parents become the caretaker...because they're young enough to do it. But what if the person is thirty to 35? Parents could be in their 70s...siblings by that time have their own lives.....
That is for sure. Several years ago, a distant family member (in his 20's) was teaching his martial arts class and suffered a paralyzing accident. He is in a wheelchair and paralyzed from the neck down. I can't even imagine the costs that the family has had to bear. The parents have become his caregivers, and when they can no longer manage it, his siblings will take over.
You have to keep paying the premium even while you're in the home?
Uhm, did I know that and forget that part? (Rhetorical, of course)
Wow, If I did hear it...I forgot that.
Sorry. When I said "rate increase" I was talking about the monthly bill from the memory care facility. I don't think she's paying premiums any longer, although one of my siblings is handling the check writing so I'm not 100% certain.
Quote:
Originally Posted by selhars
Yeah but you know how people try to game a system. Would the law that permitted that HAVE to stipulate the assets are split 50/50. If not what's to keep them from putting put all the assets in one of their name's, and take a chance on which might not need care.
Sure... plenty of details would need to be ironed out. I'm just curious if there's any way to do this today. Perhaps using trusts? Not an area of any expertise for me, haha.
anyone who needs nursing home care is not one to move in with their kids …we are not talking assisted living conditions
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