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Lots of Younger People Need Care

February 28, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

People under 65 often need long-term care and have not prepared for this possibility.

We have a friend in his mid-50s who suffered a spinal injury and is now quadriplegic. One minute he was OK, and suddenly after a fall at home, he was not. He has been told that he can make a decent recovery with about a year of intensive re-hab.

The problem is that his health insurance paid the acute part of his expenses – his care in the hospital and at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research at Memorial Hermann Hospital – but it does not pay for the chronic, ongoing care necessary for his continued recovery.

I recently learned that the nursing home where he’s been getting rigorous physical therapy, five days a week, for the past month or so, wants him discharged. His physical therapist reported that he was making good progress, but his progress has not been speedy enough for his insurance company. His insurance company is very eager to quit paying, and the family is now fighting it out with his medical insurer.

This very tragic situation is unfortunately far too common in today’s medical landscape.

This family is ill prepared to cope with their situation, which is clearly taking a toll on them.

If they owned long-term care insurance (LTCi), their situation would be quite different and they would have many more options. An LTCi policy would have helped defray the expenses of his much needed, ongoing home health care and physical therapy.

President’s Day Message from Terry Savage

February 21, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

I am a huge fan of Terry Savage’s.

I’m providing a link to her piece titled “Pols are making us pay for their false promises” (Chicago Sun Times, Feb 21, 2011) because no one says it more succinctly and eloquently than Terry does.

Terry is describing the unsustainable “house of cards” that’s been created by continued spending of government money that doesn’t exist.

Government funding of long-term care is just one such entitlement.

If you agree with my opinion that it is entirely unrealistic to expect any help from the government when it comes to paying long-term care costs, you understand that long-term care insurance ownership is the only way to ensure dignity, options and choices if you wind up needing long-term care.

Dear Abby tackles long-term care issues

January 2, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

In her December 19, 2011 column, quoted completely, below, Dear Abby published a letter about someone who is 99.9% likely to NOT own long-term care insurance (LTCi). I say this not just because statistically, only 10% of Americans in optimum age range and income brackets do (see my blog on the Urban Institute report). If the lady described below owned LTCi, she might have been less hesitant to access the long-term care she sadly, and very evidently needs. LTCi would have pumped money with which care could be paid for. I informally observe that when insurance pays, people get the right kind of care earlier and more often.

The situation below is very sad, and largely avoidable when long-term care planning has been done. Unfortunately, we see similar situations very often.

“DEAR ABBY: I have an elderly neighbor I have been friends with for many years. Over the past several years she has had numerous medical problems. I have done everything I can to be her friend. I do things around the house, bring her meals, whatever I can. She has no family and only one other friend besides me.

She is depressed and stays in bed most of the day, which contributes to her aches and pains. I keep telling her she needs to get up and walk or her pain will get worse. It has reached the point where she’s so nasty about everything that I don’t even want to talk to her.

I understand that she’s scared and feels beaten up. I try to talk about things that are noncontroversial — happy things. It doesn’t work. She turns everything into an argument. I don’t know what to do. I hate to ignore her, but it’s really taking a toll on me. Am I a fair-weather friend? — TRYING TO BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR IN MASSACHUSETTS

DEAR GOOD NEIGHBOR: No, you are a caring friend. Your elderly neighbor is ill, and she may be becoming demented. Because she is no longer able to care for herself or her home, contact the nearest hospital or senior center and ask to speak with a social worker on staff. The woman you describe may need more help than you can give her, from people with the training to do it.”

Happy 65th Birthday to the Boomer Generation

January 1, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

Happy New Year…and happy 65th birthday to the Baby Boom Generation! Today, the oldest Baby Boomers started turning 65.

An article in the January 1, 2011 New York Times, pp. A1, A3, “Boomers Hit Another Milestone of Self-Absorption: Turning 65″ states that over the next 19 years, 10,000 boomers a day will turn 65. There are 79 million of us, about 26 percent of this country’s population. “The pig has moved through the python, and is moving to the final stage,” says the article.

The reporter states that boomers are the most self-centered generation ever, which as a boomer, I feel qualified to attest to.

The writer also reports that the suicide rate for middle-aged people has increased and appears to be related to the sluggish economy. The assumption is that boomers are far from being economically prepared for their long lives.

This does not bode well for what long-term care will look like for the majority of us baby boomers. Statistics show that very few of us own long-term care insurance (LTCi), or have even had a conversation about responsible long-term care planning.

If you are a boomer who falls into the majority of those have not yet prepared for the possibility of needing long-term care, I urge you to heed my call to prepare now, so that if the need arises, you will have dignity, options and choices.

The biggest misconception about LTCi is that it’s too expensive. My clients are often pleasantly surprised to learn that LTCi prices can be quite reasonable. Indeed, what is expensive is needing long-term care for anything but a brief length of time and not owning LTCi.

Margaret’s Story

September 8, 2009 by Honey Leave a Comment

I wish to offer debts of gratitude to Margaret M for having the courage to share her story with us. Unfortunately, similar situations happen far more often than they should, mostly because people don’t want to plan. Margaret and I ardently hope that by sharing her story, others will be able to avoid similar circumstances. The following is a true story, and not a paid endorsement.

“Dear Honey:

About 18 years ago, we received a mail solicitation for long-term care insurance. My husband said he thought it sounded like a good idea. We responded and made an appointment with an agent who would show us coverage.

Three days before our appointment, my husband suffered a mini-stroke and became uninsurable. He continued to have mini-strokes. His condition deteriorated. He was eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

My husband was an avid jogger. One day he went jogging and couldn’t find his way home. At that point, he wanted to move to our retirement home in Louisiana, about 4 ½ hours away. We felt he could do some of his favorite activities there, and would be safer because he wouldn’t have to leave our 54 acres. He had a caregiver. We were able to save some money because the cost of care is lower there.

That was in February, 2000. I was working full-time, largely to keep us both covered with health insurance. Every weekend, I’d commute back and forth to Louisiana from Houston.

My husband’s condition continued to deteriorate. He began to hallucinate and became violent, making it impossible for him to remain in our home with a caregiver. In the Spring of 2006, we moved him into a nursing home back in Houston. By the time he passed away on Thanksgiving Day of 2006, he’d lost 60 pounds and was painfully thin and physically debilitated.

This whole ordeal lasted about ten years. Alzheimers and similar debilitating diseases cause tremendous emotional stress for the patient and caregiver. We went through pretty much our entire $650,000 retirement savings paying for his care. The stress of this financial burden greatly exacerbates the pain and devastation of losing your loved one.

People just can’t imagine something like this ever happening to them. They can’t fathom how expensive the cost of care can be. I am sad and concerned about this. This is why I want my story told. I’d like to prevent other families from experiencing the same type of hardship we had. Our lives would have turned out so differently if we’d known about long-term care insurance just a little bit sooner. I am so glad I own long term care insurance, so that our children will never have to worry about providing care for me, should it be needed in the future.” ~ Margaret M | Houston, TX

Request a Free, No-Obligation LTCi Quote

Lots of Younger People Need Care

President’s Day Message from Terry Savage

Dear Abby tackles long-term care issues

Happy 65th Birthday to the Boomer Generation

Margaret’s Story

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