The government has made it explicitly clear that it doesn’t pay for long-term care—it’s clear in brochures and other publications. Medicare is not a solution for long-term care. Medicare should be viewed like health insurance.

The use of Medicaid to provide care has also been greatly restricted. The policies are clear: Medicaid is not to be used as a solution for wealthy people to transfer their money and save it. Medicaid was created for the purpose of providing medical assistance to low-income Americans. Some people feel too proud to go on Medicaid, even though they lack assets and can’t afford long-term care insurance. Meanwhile, some wealthy people are trying to get on those rolls. They try to reposition their assets to make themselves indigent on paper—but it’s much harder to accomplish that than it was 10 or 15 years ago.

These are complex programs for care that require expert knowledge in understanding terms, applications, eligibility, and even strategies for maximizing use. Talk to your financial advisor about long-term care and insurance and what might work best for your needs.

Check out this article for additional information! Insure-Your-Health-For-The-Long-Term-Now.pdf

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According to a May 7, 2012 survey, conducted by Harris Interactive for Nationwide Financial, nearly half of high-net-worth Americans who are close to retirement are “terrified” of what health care costs could do to their retirement plans. But 38 percent of those surveyed said that they haven’t discussed retirement health-care costs with a financial advisor, in part because they are unsure as to whether their advisor is knowledgeable about the issue. This is not a good sign.

To put it in perspective, several years of care can wipe out half a million dollars of life savings. “Well, it’s not going to happen to me,” you may think, but statistically, it could. The lifetime chance that someone who buys a policy at age 60 will use their policy before they die is 50 percent. A more responsible approach is to analyze the cost and look for ways to fund it*.

People may think they will need to pay for the cost of insurance out of their cash flow—and as a result, they worry that they won’t be able to go out to dinner or visit the grandkids or play a round of golf. But often they do have money, perhaps half a million or so, so the fact that they have assets is what raises the issue. If they had no money, then Medicaid could be their plan.

Ultimately, medical and long-term care should be considered and planned for.

insure-your-health-for-the-long-term-now

*Long term care probability or the risk you’ll need long term insurance. Copyright ? 1998 – 2014 AALTCI   http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance/learning-center/probability-long-term-care.php

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