November is Long-Term Care Awareness Month.
Here’s a poignant video that sums up why it’s so important to plan for long-term care in advance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QidwprDLI9o&list=PL5K0pDq3yLfQsSqurzHih88dhPkAODuye&index=3
It’s National Long Term Care Awareness Month!
November is officially National Long Term Care Awareness Month (LTCAM). The US Congress created LTCAM in 2001, making this the 17th anniversary! Congress recognized the need to promote LTCAM as a month-long campaign aimed at educating Americans on the importance of owning Long Term Care insurance (LTCi).
Local, state and national governments recognize how unprepared citizens are. When it comes to being able to afford often catastrophically expensive long term care (LTC) costs, many of us are unprepared. Our government will not be able to adequately bear the costs of providing LTC. Long term care insurance costs are often a fraction of actual long term care costs.
How is Your Long Term Care Awareness?
Last year, Genworth Financial conducted a survey to see how informed Americans were on the costs, options and even the need for long term care. They found that only 1 in 5 respondents had taken any action in planning for their future medical needs.
They also found a lot of misunderstanding about who pays for for LTC costs, understanding the difference between Medicare and Medicaid, and a general lack of knowledge about what kind of costs are covered.
- 2 out of 3 respondents expect government programs to cover the costs of their LTC needs; however, 45% admitted that they didn’t know the difference between Medicare and Medicaid programs.
- GenX is most concerned about paying for their medical expenses as they age. And yet, they are least likely to have a financial plan in place.
- Millennials are most likely to have made proactive plans for their future. The research suggests that they have the lowest expectations of the government being able to pay, so they have taken action to protect themselves.
Here is a first-hand testimonial of someone who didn’t think she needed Long Term Care insurance, kept an open mind and bought the policy.
Knowledge is Power
The purpose of Long Term Care Awareness Month is to raise your awareness of the need to plan responsibly for LTC, right now! This is the very best way to ensure dignity, options, access and choices if LTC is necessary.
Unfortunately, the odds of needing LTC are high. You protect against other risks, like a car accident or house fire. The need for LTC is more likely than a house fire or car accident. LTC often costs more than a car or a house. If you’re not prepared, a lengthy LTC need puts your savings and retirement, and family at risk.
Just as it is smart to plan ahead for retirement, it’s smart to plan now for long-term care.
Take that first step. Click here to receive your free, no-obligation quote for your own Long Term Care insurance coverage.
Falling Down is no Joke for the Elderly
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that falls are the second highest cause of injury in seniors. Falls trail just behind traffic-related injuries. In fact, over 37 million of these falls are serious enough to require medical attention, globally.
Here in the U.S., the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that one in four seniors, aged 65+, fall each year. Those falls mean more than 2.8 million visits to the emergency room. Tragically, there are over 27,000 deaths each year from falls.
Preventing Falls
The WHO lists multiple fall prevention strategies to help reduce risk, including:
- Muscle strengthening and balance retraining
- Introduction and use of physical devices to assist those with physical and/or sensory impairments
- Thorough assessment of the living environment for potential falling hazards
The rest of the list, along with a discussion of other risk factors can be found here on the WHO website.
The Cost of Falls – not just in dollars
The CDC explains that the total cost of the injuries from falls was about $50 billion in 2015. By 2020, these costs are expected to be over $67 billion.
There has been a lot of work raising awareness around preventing these falls. Unfortunately, many seniors react in fear, so they change their regular activities. They choose to stay home and “play it safe”. However, reducing their social interaction and physical routines creates their own problems. They often experience an increase in alienation and depression.
You don’t have to hide in fear of falls! A thoughtful long term care insurance (LTCi) policy can help you easily prepare to navigate this road. Perhaps you want to hire trained home healthcare professionals. Maybe you’re looking for a facility that is properly equipped with safety features to reduce your risk. These options become available to you, especially when you plan in advance for your future needs.
The first “step” is beginning your research. Click here to receive your free, no-obligation quote for your own LTCi policy.
Affluent Retirees Won’t Spend Their Money!
Affluent people often tell me they don’t need long-term care insurance (LTCi). They’ll self-insure, instead. This is contrary to my experience.
Traditional retirement planning typically calls for a gradual drawing down of savings to produce retirement income. Contrary to this long-held belief, a recent study published by Employee Benefit Research Institute (ERBI) proves otherwise. In fact, affluent retirees do not want to spend their money!
As illogical as it sounds, this is a point I have been writing about for years. Retirees find great comfort in the size of their nest egg and there is too much uncertainty in their future.
ERBI’s new study shows affluent retirees (with over $500,000 in non-housing savings) had only spent down 11.8 percent of their savings within the first twenty years of retirement. This is far less than projected. In fact about one-third of sampled retirees increased their assets over that period.
Relaxing About the Future
My strong opinion, based on nearly 30 years of client observation, is this: LTC insurance ownership releases people from an ever-present gray storm cloud of a possible LTC need looming on the horizon. The gray cloud grows ever larger with each passing year. Let’s call it the LTC Storm Cloud. It’s caused by fear of an unexpected, unplanned for, possibly catastrophically expensive “Spending Shock“, caused by a chronic long term care need.
An AHIP study released in 2014 (email me at honey@honeyleveen.com for the actual study) confirms LTC insurance owners get 35% more hours of care, as well as many additional advantages, such as increased independence and dignity, decreased financial stress, higher quality family relationships, and the list goes on.
The reason LTC insurance owners obtain more care is because they’re not paying for it out of their income or savings.
I see people denying their true need for care all the time. Often, it’s because they have the money for it, but just don’t want to spend it. They’re afraid of losing their wealth. Don’t let this happen to you!
When you’re ready to get some peace of mind about your future needs, click here to receive a no-obligation quote for your personal LTCi policy.
Who Will Take Care of You When You’re Older? Probably Not Your Kids
In 1850, it was common for families to have anywhere from 6-9 children! 
A driving incentive was that, “… children were considered an economic asset: with enough kids, parents could rest assured that at least some would survive and care for them in old age.” (Quartz, Oct. 11, 2017) You can see in this chart from Quartz (from the US Census) that parents had fewer and fewer children with each passing decade.
This steady decline of US birthrates has continued. There’s been lots of news on this recently. The New York Times recently had professional survey firm, Morning Consult, conduct a new poll of young adults to determine why they are having fewer children. They surveyed over 1,800 men and women, ages 20-45. What they found was that in 2017, the number of births in the US birth was at its lowest number in 30 years. And down a full 2% from 2016.
Why Are We Having Fewer Children?
As in decades past, it’s still a financially-based decision. While our ancestors saw children as an economic asset, they are now more of an economic burden. The rising cost of childcare was the top-rated explanation for scaling back on family size, as reported in this Fortune article (July 6, 2018).
Other reasons included the desire to spend more time with their existing children. Many others had fears about the country’s economic instability. It’s hard to plan for the future needs of their children over the next 20 years when their current finances no longer feel secure.
Fewer Children Means Fewer Caregivers
If we were still living in large families, there would be plenty of hands available to take care of everyone. From the babies through the great-grandparents. In 2018, however, our family size has shrunk considerably. There are fewer family members available to provide the daily care.
Who is going to take care of you when you need more help? The numbers tell us that it is unrealistic to depend on our kids.
If you’re ready to get some peace of mind over your future long term care needs, click here for your free, no-obligation quote for long term care insurance.
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