cbpirate

My mom got one for herself when there was no adult foster care. When she had to use it, it was submitted and denied at first. Fortunately for us, the owner wanted to keep my mom there and was willing to try to submit things to try to make it work. It finally did and paid well. It was the difference of about 1/2 the cost at first and moved up quickly as she was not able to help herself much toward the end. It started out with foster care not even being covered in 1990 (it hadn't been invented yet) and ended up with the appropriate medical care and was accepted. It may take a lot of work, but if you approach it from the cost point of view and have a place that is willing to work with you and the company, it may turn out helping a lot of different people. once you are in the system and collecting, most will no longer accept premiums..... good luck and expect a lot of work at first...

pjnesler

While my father was alive he purchased a policy for he and mom. He passed away from cancer - didn't use the policy. A few years later, mom ended up purchasing a policy from a different company. Paid premiums for both policies - a couple years later we found out she had Alzheimers. She lived with me for a bit over 2 years, I continued to work full time, but one of the policies paid for her to go to the resthome during the day - sort of an adult day care situation so she was able to be involved with art groups, music, and outings the beauty shop at the facility, meals etc. Since I needed to leave for work early each day, A home health aid would get her breakfast and visit with her until the bus came to pick her up at my home ( 1.5 hrs per day )to take her to the nursing home. I would pick her up at the nursing home when I was done with work, and we enjoyed each others company evenings and weekends.
When the Senior Living Campus was completed near my sister ( Assisted Living ) mom moved
there until she passed on last spring - she lived there 8 years. Due to Dads planning, and moms purchase of the additional policy, most of her day program while she stayed with me was covered by the insurance. When she moved to assisted living, between the 2 plans her expenses were all covered. Each plan had different points that needed to be scrutinized so we got the benefits from each to work best for mom, and we we were very satisfied for the majority of her care. ONE very difficult time came when the Assisted Living center wanted to kick her out because they added on to their care offerings to include a nursing home wing. With her declining health, they wanted to move her to that section, at that point, her policies would not pay. She needed to stay in assisted living for them to pay. My sister fought the EVICTION NOTICE the facillity SENT TO MOM - even needed the assistance of a lawyer to draft a letter...long story short - mom stayed put, and passed without further conflict. To sum it up, there is a lot to think about. I was lucky the town I lived in offered the support network it did so mom could stay with me.

SueSew

It is important to choose a major insurer with some history in the long-term-care and commitment to it, not just something you see in AARP ads, and make sure of exactly what and how much of it is covered. A lot of policies sound great but do not cover care outside of a nursing home. If you can get one which covers in-home and other not-nursing-home situations, it will be more money. There can be caps on how much is covered in a year and overall. You can get an option to have premiums stable or premiums rising, and different plans will cap the amount of rising the plan can do.

Overall, I am not a fan of insurance, but all the financial consultants and retirement experts want you to buy it as part of the solution. If you have the discipline to put away at least $5,000 a year starting in your fifties, knowing you won't touch it until your kids need it to take care of you, maybe you don't need LTC - that $5K I got from my premiums for DH and me. It is very expensive and the older you get the more expensive it gets.
I would be disgusted about the denial of benefits, but insurance companies make money when they don't have to pay claims...
I am so sorry to hear these sad stories about relatives passing away without the financial support from their own insurance policies.

Jakers1

I had someone try to sell me a policy. The reason was to protect my assets. If I went into a nursing home or other long term care, my assets were used to pay for the care first without the policy, as I understand it. Then you went on Medicaid. The purpose of the policy is to not have your assets used, if you intend to pass them on to your heirs, but you cannot sell or give them away 2 years before you need a nursing home. That is what I understand at least part of the policy is intended to do. I have a house that is worth about 3 times what I paid for it and other investments and do not want them used for my health care later in life. So, I am going to check into other policies - again, be careful of the benefits and options as well as the premium.

luvstoquilt

My mother has a long term policy with a huge ins company (Equitible)..she does get some money but it has been a fight all along the way. She lives in assisted living and is unable to prepare meals, walk without a walker, shower alone. She has a problem getting up from a chair, etc. She is not safe living in my home because she gets up at night and falls. She also forgets and tries to cook and she wanders away. The insurance company has put her through terrible tests to see if they believe this 94 year old woman is truly eligible! At one point, after she was receiving compensation they decided she was so improved she no longer needed the assistance. The nurse said she just needed therapy and she would be walking without assistance in no time! The last time she was tested she was so upset she had to have chest compressions to be waked up. The test was done by an RN that came with her test..it was 138 pages long and it was brutal. She made mom get up and walk across the room and back without her walker...this was after mom had just gone to the bathroom. I told the nurse I thought she was unkind to make her walk again..didn't she just see her walk? The exam lasted about 2 1/2 hours and upset my mother terribly. She spent the rest of the day in bed and was unable to be waked up the next morning. I would not give you a nickel for that policy..it is way to hard to collect. I need to add my parents had that policy for 35 years. My dad died of a sudden heart attack 20 years ago. I have saved my money so if I need that help I can pay for it (I hope!) but I have no desire to purchase that type of insurance. My hope is I do not live to be in my 90's and I hope I never have to be a burden to my children.

Stitchit123

Good luck -A friend of mine retired from the insurance racket and she bought long term care policies for herself and her lifes partner.Her partner was placed in a long term care facility and after 6 months of daily arguments the ins co agreed to pay 10.5 cents on the dollar spent in care.Even after they take the patients Social security check in lieu of payment its not enough to cover 18 cents on the dollar for care..After all the arguing her partner is in a Hospice facility and my friend at the age of 69 has filed bankruptcy on the medical bills.

fmd36

My DH looked into this ins. and decided he would rather invest our $'s and use that for health care. He also decided NOT to buy life insurance. In May he had a stroke, went to the local hosp., then to rehab - because he needs phys. theraphy - and now is in a local -in town extended health care facility. We have a HMO that is paying for 100 days for care. He will be released - we hope -in July. No Medicare or Medicaide. If he comes home will private pay for any nursing or theraphy he needs. If he stays in the facility the HMO will no longer cover him and the bill is $9,100/month. We have an elder-law attorney that is trying to protect our assets- he says we/I will probably have to "spend down" and live on $2,500/mo. The house/asset is protected but all the savings and investments are
possibly be up for grabs. In hindsight would the ins. have been better? I don't know. Family is split between the west coast and DD is moving to FL. WE live in NH. This is going to be interesting ...we will have to take this a day at a time.not spend any $ we don't have. Big changes.

bearisgray

Thank you for your responses.

I think all insurance is a betting game - they (the insurance company hoping they won't have to pay) and the purchaser hoping it won't be needed - but hoping it will be there if it's needed.

It seems that those with NO assets can get assistance - and the very well off can pay without too much trauma - it's all those in-betweeners that get hit hard.

Sew Blessed

We took out a policy for my mother in 2002 and in 2007 she had a stroke and ended up in a beautiful Assisted Living complex with her own apartment, wonderful caregivers, meals and housekeeping included. The cost was around $6,000 per month and her Long Term Care policy covered it until she passed in April of this year. We had paid about $20,000 in premiums before her stroke and they paid out nearly $300,000 in benefits. It was one of the top 3 Long Term Care companies in the country and I bless them every day!

caspharm

It depends on the company. We just went to a Financial planner the other day to review our investments and general financial standing, since we had just done our trust. He saw our LTC policies and said most of the companies are no longer writing any LTC policies. He also said that as we get older, there will be a good chance that at least one of us would probably end up using the policy. We bought a very good and somewhat pricey policy 2 years ago and the FP said it was a very good policy and to keep paying it, especially since we would never be able to replace it for equal value.