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My 66-year young mother, a retired-widow, is asking me whether she needs to get LTC or not at this point in her life. She is in good health, walks her dog twice a day, does gardening, occupies herself, visits friends and family. She mentioned she and my dad had saved all their adult life, she is on Medicare and has a supplemental health insurance for what Medicare does not cover. She gets my father's pension and will be getting her social security benefits soon by the end of the year. Is that enough to cover her? I will take care of her when the time comes but I hear a LTC insurance premium goes higher the older you wait. What do I tell her? HELP!

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Buying insurance of any kind is a gamble. We have home, auto and health insurance and pretty much use none of them for claims. But, we need to have it. If your situation should change, and Mom does need to go into a facility, Medicare and supplemental won’t pay forever for her to stay there. I believe LTC would cover that. The costs of care in a facility will blow through any savings she has in a matter of months. It did my mom’s. $30,000 in six months. It’s one of those “better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it” things.
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I hope others have some ideas, but maybe one thing to consider is how old her parents were when they died and if there was any dementia.

It's wonderful that she is in good health now and active, engaged. That is huge! Many here deal with family members who have been sickly for years and at relatively young ages.

Is it possible to get some quotes on what LTC would cost?
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anonymous799701 Oct 2018
Hi SnoopyLove, cute user name!
You are so right, my grandmother had Lewy Body Dementia and lived to be 83; my grandfather had Alzheimer and lived to be 85, I took care of them both, at different times thank God until their last months where they needed 24-hr palliative care, it drained me so much, I got so depressed with their ups and downs, but felt blessed that I could help.
And thank you also, for your quick response, God Bless and enjoy this wonderful that is Fall....
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Not looking til after you need it is leaving it too late, but unless she has a good income at 66 the premiums may already be more than she can afford. From everything I've read there are fewer companies offering this insurance and those that do cover less and exclude more.
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anonymous799701 Oct 2018
Thank you for your quick response, I appreciate that, it's it amazing how we worry about our parents. My grandmother lived to be 83, and grandfather 85, so hopefully it will be the case in our family as well, with God's help and protection.
Thank you and enjoy the fall, my favorite season.
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This may be a question for a financial adviser. Remember Medicare and her supplemental insurance do not pay for long term care, if she eventually requires that level of care. A NH runs about 10K per month. The average stay is 2 years, that’s $240k. And 24/7 in home care costs more than that. So as long as her savings can support that type of expense without impoverishing your Dad, she may not need LTC insurance. What if your Dad eventually needs it too?
My husband and I purchased policies when we were in our 50s, and our 2 premiums are about 3K per year total and cover NH and in home services. I know the longer you wait, the higher the premiums are but we are very glad we did it.
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