Health Insurance Guide - Health Insurance Glossary Section

Shannon Davis

The costs associated with long term care are huge and rising daily. And the chance that each of us will one day require some form of long term care is also increasing daily. Long term care insurance protects your family's assets because the government will require you to deplete your own assets before stepping in with benefits.

A long term care insurance policy can cover much more than just a basic nursing home. It may include rehabilitation units and home health care options as well. And long term care insurance isn't just for the elderly either. Almost twenty percent of the patients at my grandfather's rehabilitation nursing home are younger adults who have been incapacitated due to injury or serious illness.

Clearly disability insurance and life insurance aren't enough in the face of rising health care costs. It is important that each of us protect our families with a long term care insurance policy. Compare potential long term care insurance policies carefully by reading each provision thoroughly. Then draw a spreadsheet where you can compare apples to apples when it comes to types and amounts of benefits offered. Create a scenario where you would need extensive long term care for five years, then compare what the resulting benefits and expenditures would be at the end of the five years. Sometimes a long term care insurance policy with a higher premium is a much better deal if it provides substantially more coverage.

When researching long term care insurance rates, it is important to get as many long term care insurance quotes from as many different sources as possible. You may even get different prices for the same policy, so make sure to do your homework.

After collecting as many quotes as you feel appropriate, you then have the job of comparing the long term care insurance quotes. Read the quotes and policies offered thoroughly, then decide which benefits are most important to you. Eliminate the long term care insurance policies that don't adequately meet your anticipated needs.

Once you have narrowed down the candidates, create a spreadsheet so that you can compare costs and benefits of the long term care insurance quotes side-by-side. Include columns for the premiums, co-pays, percentages paid by the insurance carrier and you, deductibles, and out of pocket maximums. Once you've got all of the numbers plugged in, put together three or four likely scenarios. For example, you may expect $20,000 of medical and nursing home care over a ten year period. Make sure to vary costs and time frames, because the best cost for five years might be the worst for fifteen.

You may be surprised to find that long term care insurance that carries a cheaper premium actually provides better coverage over a long period of time. But beware of real bargains. In long term care insurance just like everything else in life, you usually get what you pay for. To guard against poor service once the contracts are signed, contact a long term care provider, such as a nursing home, to find out how well your potential long term care insurance company responds to clients and how quickly and consistently they pay claims.
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