Helpful Information About LTC Archives - Page 9 of 56 - Long Term Care Insurance Expert | Honey Leveen

Astounding Knowledge Gap!

December 9, 2017 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, with a new diagnosis made every 66 seconds. This comes from a poll released by Maria Shriver’s Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement and the Bipartisan Policy Center. It’s got a lot of surprising information about the public’s lack of awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. When preparing for Alzheimer’s, we find ourselves using a lot of inaccurate information.

The Knowledge Gap is Huge!

According to the poll (October 2017), there is a significant chasm between commonly held beliefs about Alzheimer’s disease and the actual facts about Alzheimer’s. Let’s take a look at some of those myths versus facts:

Most women (over 70% polled) believe that symptoms don’t begin until their 60’s.

Actually, symptoms develop 20 – 30 years before diagnosis
Also, women are at a higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease, as 66% of diagnoses are women.

44% of Americans have no concerns about Alzheimer’s because it doesn’t run in their family.

Your genes do not accurately predict Alzheimer’s disease.

54% of those polled believe that the long term care costs will run around $25,000 per year.

In 2014, the average nursing home stay costs $87,000 per year.
In 2014, the cost of home health care costs $45,800 per year.

Preparing for Alzheimer’s

Once we have the facts around this insidious disease, we are better able to prepare for the possibility of living with Alzheimer’s. You can click here to read the details of this poll and even download the key findings from the survey.

A future with Alzheimer’s disease is very likely, especially if you are female. Keep this in mind when planning your long term care options. Although most people (66%) want to be cared for by family members, few are having the conversation.

Taking steps to plan today can relieve your family of an unnecessary burden in the future. Plus, you’ll receive professional medical care, either at a facility or in the comfort of your home.

Now that you know, why would you wait?

Click here to receive your personal quote for Long Term Care Insurance.

Happy Alzheimer’s Awareness Month!

November 28, 2017 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

November is officially Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. This is the perfect time to better understand how so many families are affected by this disease. Especially since most families don’t see it coming until it’s too late to do any effective planning.

Less than 2 million people were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 1983. Currently, about 5.5 million people have it. By 2050, that number could rise to 60 million. Click here for a breakdown of some simple facts put together by the Alzheimer’s Association. I bet you find a few surprises in there!

The average long term care insurance (LTCi) claim lasts about three years, although I’ve had many clients’ claims last much longer. In fact, I expect that as more people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, LTCi claims will continue to lengthen.

In Honor of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month

It’s time to raise your Alzheimer’s awareness! To help you out, here are just a few of the articles that have made the news:

RAND Corporation Reports on the Readiness of the American Health Care System

Here’s a Washington Post article that shares some findings from a recent study from the RAND Corporation. Turns out, even the health care system is underprepared to treat the rising tide of dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. A major concern is developing early screening.

“Once people are in the grip of dementia, it’s too late. Any successful treatment probably will need to be given when the disease is nascent — before it has significantly eroded people’s memories and personalities.”

Bill Gates Joins the Search for Treatment

Did you hear?? Bill Gates recently invested $50 million in the Dementia Discovery Fund to support their efforts to find more treatment options.

“… my personal experience has exposed me to how hopeless it feels when you or a loved one gets the disease. We’ve seen scientific innovation turn once-guaranteed killers like HIV into chronic illnesses that can be held in check with medication. I believe we can do the same (or better) with Alzheimer’s.”

You can read more about Gates’ motivation and vision in this thoughtful piece he wrote.

Honey Leveen – Past Blogs on Alzheimer’s Disease

Most people are simply unprepared for the physical, financial, and emotional tolls Alzheimer’s can take on the patient, their family and their close friends. I’ve written extensively about this over the years to help raise Alzheimer’s awareness. This link will guide you to a number of past blogs I’ve shared.

Genworth Video Library

As we move to prepare for the likely onset of Alzheimer’s, we know that time is our enemy and knowledge is our greatest defense. Genworth has built a great collection of short videos. You can hear how people have used their long term care insurance plans when these life events happen.

Have You Had The Talk Yet?

There are also some helpful videos that guide us through these difficult conversations with our family. As families are gathering together during this holiday season, take the opportunity to have “The Talk”. Your parents or your children need to understand what’s ahead. Need a little encouragement?

If you are interested in planning for your long term care needs, the first step is getting a quote for good coverage. Click here to receive your personalized quote.

75 Facts About LTC Insurance

November 17, 2017 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Morningstar reporter Christine Benz has a profound understanding of the need for long term care (LTC) planning. In her August 2017 column she lists 75 solid facts about LTC insurance and the amount of care you might need. She acknowledges that it’s not a popular subject; there seem to be more questions than answers.

Facts About LTC Insurance

In an effort to provide more answers, Benz provides “the numbers”. For example:

6.3 million — the number of Americans who need long term care due to their inability to carry out simple, everyday tasks.

$30 billion — the amount spent on long term care in the U.S. in 1980.

$225 billion — the amount spent on long term care in the U.S. in 2015.

$217,820 — estimated end-of-life costs in the patient’s last 5 years of life, without dementia.

37 billion hours — the annual amount of long term care provided by family & friends in 2013.

70% — percentage of unpaid caregivers who suffer in their jobs due to their caregiving duties.

You can read the full list in the article.

NOTE: When you click through to Benz’s article, you’ll see that each of these numbers is linked to a reliable report or study.

Now that you know…

The decision to prepare for the uncertainty that is our future is a big one. It is my hope that the facts provided in this article help guide you to making a choice to protect you and your family. The need for future protection is real. Ignoring the facts only increases your risk, with huge, sometimes catastrophic consequences. This can affect your finances, your quality of care, your end-of-life comfort and the relationships among your surviving family members.

People do not want to admit that after a lifetime of independence, the last years of their lives could be spent needing help with everyday tasks. For the nearly 30 years of my career, none of peoples’ excuses to avoid a conversation about LTC planning have changed.

If you already own LTC insurance, kudos to you! This article will give you well-deserved peace of mind. If you have not already planned for your LTC, Ms. Benz and I hope you will take the facts to heart, and make decisive LTC plans, now!

To receive your own customized quote for Long Term Care Insurance, click here.

Who Buys Long Term Care Insurance?

November 8, 2017 by Honey Leave a Comment

A report by AHIP and Lifeplans, two highly reputable entities, came out at the beginning of 2017 that studied which consumers chose to purchase long term care insurance (LTCi) over the last 25 years. They wanted to determine “Who Buys Long Term Care Insurance” and what has changed in the marketplace over time.

They looked at purchasing trends, attitudes around the need for long term care, the perceived role of the federal government, family responsibility and protecting a legacy. One thing is certain: the need for long term care is being more widely recognized.

This report has a ton of valuable information. To read the juicy details, you can read the full results here. For now, let’s take a look at Buyers vs. Non-buyers.

Do You Fit the Profile?

Demographics

Buyers are more likely to be married, college-educated, working, and have high income and assets.
Non-buyers have slightly lower assets. This is echoing what we see every day in our business. There has been a shift in LTCi sales to a much more affluent client than 25 years ago.

Opinions & Attitudes

Buyers are planners. Buyers are more likely to think that they will need LTC in the future in comparison to non-buyers. Conversely, non-buyers choose not to plan for their future medical needs.
Buyers worry less about paying for LTC services than non-buyers. Non-buyers understand that if they need LTC services, the government will not be paying for it, although many non-buyers mistakenly believe that their needs will be provided for by the government.
Buyers tend to believe that they will probably require care in a nursing home or in their own homes at some point in the future. Non-buyers don’t think this is need will likely arise in their lives.

Cost Factors

For non-buyers, cost is the major barrier to becoming a buyer. This hasn’t changed in 25 years. Other reasons include: skepticism about insurance companies, lack of understanding of the real risk of LTC and confusion about what the state and federal governments will or won’t pay for.
Most buyers would prefer smaller, more frequent rate increases than larger, less frequent rate increases.
More than ¾ of non-buyers would be interested in purchasing LTCi if they could deduct the premium from their taxes. They believe that the government should encourage people to buy LTCi by making it fully tax deductible.
Non-buyers favor a government stop loss program of catastrophic coverage where they would buy a smaller LTCi policy that would wrap around a public program. Members of the general population believe in the public financing of LTC.

Other Decisions

For non-buyers, ⅓ don’t plan to purchase in the future, but ⅔ do plan to become buyers at a later date. These later buyers view LTCi as part of a retirement plan and believe that they can postpone becoming buyers until they are closer to retirement.
Most buyers understood that waiting resulted in higher premiums, so they started years before The majority of buyers cited the reason they didn’t delay this purchase until retirement was their understanding that the cost of insurance would increase in the future.
Most buyers don’t buy without seeking advice from other people. Those who most impacted their LTCi buying decision were their spouses/partners and their insurance agents. Most recently, financial advisors are becoming more influential in this decision-making process.
70% of non-buyers say they would be more interested in becoming a buyer if they were able to comparison shop on the internet.

What we see consistently, for over 25 years, is that the #1 reason people buy LTCi is for preservation of assets.

So… Who buys long term care insurance? Maybe you!

Click here to receive a free quote for long term care insurance.

How Could This Happen? A Story of Procrastination

September 18, 2017 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

“June 22, 2012 – Patient needs assistance at home, currently does not need medical care. Patient lives very remotely and may not be able to find certified caretakers,” read the physician’s comments on the “Evaluation of Cognitive Impairment” form. And just like that, the patient (my client) became eligible to start receiving long term care insurance payments. “Diagnosis: G30.1 Alzheimer’s”

With this diagnosis, many of us would immediately spring into research mode. We would take a deep dive into the science around this disease, build an understanding of the future symptoms and also determine what care would be needed as the disease advanced.

Many of us would, but not everyone. Because in order to begin the research, we must first accept the reality of our new circumstances.

Three Years Later…

His wife (also my client) called me two years ago, asking me to review his policy with her. We discussed his diagnosis. I recommended that she hire home care, as originally recommended by the doctor. I also suggested that she research other options that would probably be needed in the future, like assisted living.

His long term care insurance (LTCi) policy currently pays $208 per day for home care, assisted living, nursing home care, and more. This couple is eligible to receive over $6,000 per month! It would have begun payments on the first day he needed care, covering up to four years at home and unlimited time in an assisted living facility.

Last Month: Still Not Claiming Long Term Care Insurance Payments

His wife called again just a couple of weeks ago, asking for another policy review. I could tell she was stressed and distracted. Her mind was unfocused. She was too distraught to fully digest my answers to her questions. She also had questions that had nothing to do with the LTCi policy.

I could feel the fear, as she was finally facing the reality of her husband’s condition. I wish I could have sat with her, rubbed her shoulders, and given her a hot cup of tea. In retirement, this couple had moved to a very rural area in Colorado and they have limited access to traditional care.

By the way, even in very rural areas, there are fantastic alternative solutions available, including ways to locate qualified caregivers. Especially, like my client, if your LTCi provides the financial coverage for these needs.

The High Cost of Delayed Filing

Primary family caregivers typically suffer physical, mental, and financial problems twice as often as non-caregivers. Purchasing a LTCi policy will significantly ease these challenges. But that’s only the first step.

You also have to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation and ask for help. You’ve faithfully paid the premiums all these years. This help is yours to receive.

The husband’s long term care insurance payments could have already provided many tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in claim payments by now. Their lives could have been far less stressful with more joy and dignity.

With LTCi, as with other things in life, planning ahead can greatly reduce suffering. This couple did the right thing, the wise thing, when they bought their LTCi. When they heard the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, they sunk into denial. Very, very powerful, unnecessesarily stressful denial, with expensive consequences, both financially and emotionally.

Your LTCi purchase is about preserving wealth. But more importantly, your LTCi purchase is about having dignity, options, and access to high quality care when needed.

We have control over whether to be honest about the truth or deny it.

Take the first step in planning for an easier life. Click here to receive a free quote for long term care insurance.

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