There’s yet another piece of research out telling us that retirees are unwilling to pay for long term care (LTC), even when they have more than enough in retirement savings. They are reluctant to “spend down” their accumulated wealth, “even when assets are plentiful or when there is guaranteed income available to ensure that retirees will not run out of money.”
Lori Lucas, president and CEO of the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), points to all the financial uncertainty of retirement. These pensioners may be “afraid of facing catastrophic health care costs if they need to stay in a long-term care facility for a prolonged period.”
Ironically, the monthly cost of a LTC insurance (LTCi) premium would go a long way to relieve that uncertainty.
You can read the detailed study here, “Asset Decumulation or Asset Preservation? What Guides Retirement Spending?”
They Won’t Dip In to Their Retirement Savings
I spoke with a home care agency owner who sees this all the time. He said that 75% of his clients who own long-term care insurance (LTCi) would not be getting much-needed care without their LTCi benefits. Even though they lived in million dollar homes with abundant financial resources, they’d rather not spend the money. Despite their ability to pay, they would rather do without the care were it not for their LTCi benefits. They just don’t want to “spend down” their retirement savings.
If you scroll through the comments on my Testimonials page, you’ll see many adult children confirming that their highly affluent parent would not have consented to needed care if they didn’t own LTC insurance.
Here’s another blog I did about highly affluent people who just don’t like to spend money.
LTC insurance helps people access high quality care, it’s that simple! Click here to receive your free customized quote.
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It appears they don’t want to spend for preventive care either!
A small modification of eating habits and they can reduce or eliminate some of the medications they’re on and regain control over their health.
Alas, many are not open to this simple idea and are losing their independence and quality of life, to the pharmaceutical industry and the side effects or prescribed effects of medications – many of which are not always necessary with some simple changes of food choices and exercise.
Major changes are not needed in most cases to make a 1 to 5% difference in their health and lifestyle.