LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE
Long term care refers to the ongoing services and support needed by people who have chronic health conditions or disabilities. There are three levels of long-term care:
- Skilled care: Generally round-the-clock care that's given by professional health care providers such as nurses, therapists, or aides under a doctor's supervision.
- Intermediate care: Also provided by professional health care providers but on a less frequent basis than skilled care.
- Custodial care: Personal care that's often given by family caregivers, nurses' aides, or home health workers who provide assistance with what are called "activities of daily living" (ADL) such as bathing, eating, and dressing.
The most common type of long term care is home-based care but is provided in a variety of other settings such as assisted living facilities and adult day care centers. The odds of needing long term are ever increasing as medical advancements allow us to live longer. The cost of long term care can be expensive, absorbing income and depleting savings. The average* cost of care for 2017 in Los Angeles, California:
- Homemaker Services make it possible for people to live in their own homes by helping them complete household tasks that they cant manage alone. Homemaker services aides may clean houses, cook meals or run errands. Monthly cost $4,242.
- Home Health Aides help those who live in their own homes instead of residential care facilities. Home health may offer care to people who need more extensive personal care than family and friends are able to or have the time or resources to provide. Monthly cost $4,563.
- Assisted living facilities are living arrangements that provide personal care and health services for people who may need assistance with ADL's. The level of care is not as extensive as provided in a nursing home, is not an alternative to a nursing home, but an intermediate level of long term care (referred to as Residential Care Facilities in CA). Monthly cost $4,485.
- Nursing home care is for people who may need a higher level of supervision and care than in an assisted living facility. They offer residents personal care, room and board, supervision, medication, therapies, rehabilitation as well as skilled nursing 24 hours a day. Semi-Private room monthly cost $7,026. Private Room monthly cost $9,277.
Long term care insurance was designed to provide a pool of funds to mitigate the costs and to give you the potential to receive care at home while sparing your loved ones the physical and psychological stresses of providing ongoing care.
Additional asset protection can be attained via the California Partnership for Long-Term Care Insurance Program - an innovative program of the state of California's Medi-Cal program, the Department of Health and a select number of private insurance companies.
Let us help you determine the suitability of purchasing long term care insurance, how to shop and design a contract.
* Source: The Genworth 2017 Cost of Care Survey, conducted by Carescout®, June 2017.
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