Everyone needs a plan for how they are going to handle long-term care (family, best)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
And that's why anecdotal "evidence" is weak. I have stories from two of my great aunts and my grandmother who were in nursing home for more than 5 years each! Maybe times are different? People wait much longer before going to that level of care? Even so, that intermediate level of care still has to be paid for somehow.
That is the key thing. Nursing Home doesn't usually come overnight and there are stages of cost and increased health car prior to.
And that's why anecdotal "evidence" is weak. I have stories from two of my great aunts and my grandmother who were in nursing home for more than 5 years each! Maybe times are different? People wait much longer before going to that level of care? Even so, that intermediate level of care still has to be paid for somehow.
That's why I qualified my remarks with it 'seems to happen' to lots of people and "in lots of cases, 3 years or 5 years coverage is plenty of time and more than enough time for some percentage of people." Do you disagree with that? And besides, if I wanted a LTCi policy that went longer than 5 years coverage, what would the options be?
And why is this such an emotional issue in which other people, people who are not part of your life, people who you don't know and likely never will, are so invested in you getting a LTCi policy? What happens if someone else doesn't get a policy? Do you lose your place in line getting to heaven someday? Do you spend this same emotional energy worrying about other people's regular medical coverage? Well then, let's put all this emotional angst to good use: step up and offer to pay for someone else's LTCi policy. Select a stranger on the Interwebs (hey, I'm available) and treat them to the very finest LTCi policy available, paid for by you.
And why is this such an emotional issue in which other people, people who are not part of your life, people who you don't know and likely never will, are so invested in you getting a LTCi policy? What happens if someone else doesn't get a policy? Do you lose your place in line getting to heaven someday? Do you spend this same emotional energy worrying about other people's regular medical coverage? Well then, let's put all this emotional angst to good use: step up and offer to pay for someone else's LTCi policy. Select a stranger on the Interwebs (hey, I'm available) and treat them to the very finest LTCi policy available, paid for by you.
Can you point out statements that you seem to think obligate those posters to pay for YOUR LTCi ?
I don't see those people getting emotional. They, including me, are pretty much posting facts. Here are the emotional rants of some posters against LTCi,
"I have a lifestyle I want to live NOW, with that money. So no….I don NOT want to spend $225 a month on LTCI insurance. For now, I'll save that money on my own.
….if you want to find me the insurance for the same premium you're paying, I'll gladly reconsider my decision.
If you pay insurance premiums but don't derive actual monetary benefit, your payback is quite poor.
If you're paying LTC premiums but haven't received a payout greater than those premiums, you have not come out ahead financially"
I don't care if anyone buys LTCi or not. I've even resigned myself that my taxes will go to pay for those that failed to plan or planned poorly or that my LTCi premiums might all go to provide care for someone else because I'll never need it. The only emotion I see here is jealousy and frustration from those that seem to want the coverage without paying for it.
<snip> I've even resigned myself that my taxes will go to pay for those that failed to plan or planned poorly ...
I used to worry that it would be my children who would be paying through their nose to provide taxpayer funded long term care for most of the Boomers. However, I no longer believe this is going to happen because there will not be a sufficient number of beds/facilities/caregivers for everyone. Maybe the poor will continue to qualify for subsidized long term care but the middle class will be SOL. And that's o.k. with me.
And why is this such an emotional issue in which other people, people who are not part of your life, people who you don't know and likely never will, are so invested in you getting a LTCi policy? What happens if someone else doesn't get a policy? Do you lose your place in line getting to heaven someday? Do you spend this same emotional energy worrying about other people's regular medical coverage? Well then, let's put all this emotional angst to good use: step up and offer to pay for someone else's LTCi policy. Select a stranger on the Interwebs (hey, I'm available) and treat them to the very finest LTCi policy available, paid for by you.
Actually no one in the posts here have said that you have to buy LTCi. They may have suggested that it is not wise to go without insurance but they have been pretty good suggestions and ideas on options with and without getting insurance. The real point here is to have a plan. Not everyone needs LTCi. Some people die without ever having collected a dime on that insurance. In most cases it is like term life insurance where there is no cash value in and of itself though some policies have some. You pay more for premium coverage like that.
I have pointed out that you need not cover any or all of a full fledged care facility. You can not do anything try for a partial or go whole hog. The point is that you do need to consider and it is very important that you have a plan. I am not saying that the plan needs to be a policy just something that you and your family can follow in the event of an issue where long term care (not convalescence where you are recovering from an accident or something physical like that. A medical issue is something that can cause a family to have to scramble to locate help for family members. So many go fund me pages have sprung up for many problems. If you have a plan that is all you need in my book as well as many others here too.
Actually no one in the posts here have said that you have to buy LTCi. They may have suggested that it is not wise to go without insurance but they have been pretty good suggestions and ideas on options with and without getting insurance. The real point here is to have a plan. Not everyone needs LTCi. Some people die without ever having collected a dime on that insurance. In most cases it is like term life insurance where there is no cash value in and of itself though some policies have some. You pay more for premium coverage like that.
1. I never said anyone said someone 'had' to buy LTCi. I specifically mentioned a lot of emotion some have around the subject, and for people they've never met nor will likely never meet. I questioned the intensity of this emotion since that intensity doesn't appear to exist in other insurance discussions.
2. Actually, there haven't been many other options presented outside of get a LTCi plan other than either self-insure and hope for the best or someone mentions planning to kill themselves at the time they don't have the money.
3. I suspect there are many people in the country who don't ever collect on LTCi policies -- that's exactly what insurance companies would be banking on, just like they do for all other insurance policies they sell.
4. We get it for sure -- failing to plan is planning to fail. Even if the decision is "nope, LTCi is not for me" (and I'm not saying that, it's just an example), one still needs to have a plan anyway assuming they're going to live long enough to need some care at some point.
No argument lottamoxie. Your post is why I started this thread. There are a few options that were mentioned as I said in my previous post. But if they don't work for you that is fine. It is just important we have this discussion with ourselves and more importantly our families. They need to know your wishes. They need to know what to do and where to go for answers. Even getting LTCi isn't a complete plan. The plan needs to be comprehensive in that it covers as much of the immediate problems that might lead to LTC.
I have no LTC policy because I know no matter how fancy the facility is they will have people there making $10 an hour - most don't care about you at all - the best is to die suddenly or off yourself when you feel the time is right.
My Mother was in several so-called "good" nursing homes and she was neglected in all of them. I had her home as long as I could -
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
