Long Term Care - Success Stories
Lorraine was about to have her 60th birthday and reached out to me to talk about ways she could use insurance to pay for costs related to potential at home or in facility assisted living costs.
She wanted flexibility to receive benefits in home or at an assisted living facility. If possible, Lorraine wants to receive care at home. Most of us feel the same way. Even the nicest of facilities do not compare with the comforts of home.
Fortunately, there are much better options available today than even 8 or so years ago. There are plans you can buy that you pay for x years and others that you can make a single payment and the policy is paid in full.
The main advantage in newer hybrid style plans available now is if you do not use the Long-Term-Care benefits, the plan will pay your beneficiaries a death benefit instead. You also have what is basically a cash back option should you decide you needed funds for something else. Lorraine appreciated the flexibility. Being able to pass the money to her loved ones if she didn’t need the policy made good sense to her.
To help her shop, we looked at 5 different plans offered by 3 different insurance carriers. Lorraine was analytical by nature and wanted to dig deep into what her benefits would be. I feel the same way and helped by identifying the pros and cons of each plan.
The plan she chose which is from a highly rated carrier has considerable flexibility built in. Her plan premiums were spread out over 10 years. Lorraine can also choose to stop making premium payments and taking a lesser benefit if her needs changed. It has a built in guaranteed death and Long-Term Care benefits she can use at home or in facility and for other needs such home modifications. The plan also has a built-in inflation rider that increases her benefit over time. One of the strongest features is that the plan pays a cash indemnity benefit. The indemnity benefit pays up to the monthly or annual eligible benefit without having to show proof of expense payment. The flexibility and built-in simplicity with minimal red tape was a true advantage in her eyes.
Joe liked the idea of having Long Term Care benefits. He also needed life insurance to protect his family’s lifestyle more than the Long-Term Care Benefits. His dad recently needed care at a rehab facility which are facilities that also care for people with long term needs. Joe had a first-hand look at what might be in his future. He didn’t like the view and didn’t want to just hope things worked out. Joe wanted to be the decision maker.
The bottom line for Joe, a 35-year-old healthy man was that the family couldn’t afford both at this time. They wanted to buy a home soon and needed to be tight with their budged for at least the next few years.
We chose the next best thing. A term life insurance plan with “Living Benefits” rider built in. Some Life Insurance companies include “Living Benefits” in their life policies as an added value feature. The basic premise is that if Joe were to become critically ill, chronically ill or terminally ill, the insurance company will accelerate a portion of his death benefit to him. That is a powerful feature because it would provide much needed cash at a difficult time in their lives.
Remember, this is a life insurance policy, not a long-term care policy. The life policy has an additional built in “extra” benefit that provides Joe’s family with some much-needed cash while he is alive and hopefully is for years to come.
The accelerated payment(s) received would be netted out of the policies death benefit payment assuming the life policy is still in-force when Joe passes away.
Joe realizes while the Living Benefits features in this life insurance policy are similar to long-term care policies, he knows this solution does NOT have all the bells and whistles that a traditional long-term care policy has.
Meeting Joe’s needs and priorities, we were able to get Joe a 1,000,000 30-year level term life policy with built in Living Benefits for $1,000 a year.
This affordable solution also includes a policy conversion feature should he want to replace this temporary life insurance plan with a permanent life insurance policy. He would NOT be subject to health underwriting at that time which is another high value feature.
Again, while this is NOT a perfect life and long-term care insurance solution, it is a good solution. It addresses his current needs for income protection, meets his budget requirements, and provides some long-term care like benefits.
We look forward to hearing your story and providing you with options that help you protect and prosper.
We are all different, we are in different situations and have different priorities and different resources. These examples are here to provide a general picture of the ways we help others protect their family and provide for their family over the long term. Insurance is forward looking and when applied properly, a very valuable tool.
We look forward to hearing your story and providing you with options that help you protect and prosper.