Monday, September 13, 2004
Should you buy long-term care insurance?
[Eileen Ambrose, "No matter how much you make, questions are the same," The Wichita Eagle, reprinted from The Baltimore Sun, 12 September 2004.]
Financial columnist Eileen Ambrose answers the most frequently asked questions of financial planners in this recent article. One of the top questions is whether there truly is a need for long-term care insurance:
Do I need long-term-care insurance?
Medicaid will pick up the cost of care for low-income individuals who can't afford to buy a policy. And wealthy individuals can pay for nursing-home care -- which now averages about $66,000 a year -- out of pocket should they need it.
It's all those who fall in-between who must decide whether to buy a policy. Policies aren't cheap -- costing about $2,000 to $2,500 annually for those in their mid-60s -- and the price only gets steeper the longer someone puts off the decision.
Garrett advises those who can afford a policy -- especially singles or those whose families won't be able to care for them -- to start shopping for a policy at age 50.
Choose an insurer that will likely still be in the long-term-care business decades from now when you may need to make a claim, experts said.
Wealthy individuals can probably pay for a lot of things out of pocket that they typically insure. Most will likely want to consider coverage nonetheless.
[Stephen A. Moses, "Project Proposal: Controlling Medicaid Long-Term Care Costs," The Flint Hills Center, January 2004.
[Matthew Hisrich, "Staying the Course: Medicaid Reform in Kansas," The Flint Hills Center for Public Policy, February 2004.]
[Eileen Ambrose, "No matter how much you make, questions are the same," The Wichita Eagle, reprinted from The Baltimore Sun, 12 September 2004.]
Financial columnist Eileen Ambrose answers the most frequently asked questions of financial planners in this recent article. One of the top questions is whether there truly is a need for long-term care insurance:
Do I need long-term-care insurance?
Medicaid will pick up the cost of care for low-income individuals who can't afford to buy a policy. And wealthy individuals can pay for nursing-home care -- which now averages about $66,000 a year -- out of pocket should they need it.
It's all those who fall in-between who must decide whether to buy a policy. Policies aren't cheap -- costing about $2,000 to $2,500 annually for those in their mid-60s -- and the price only gets steeper the longer someone puts off the decision.
Garrett advises those who can afford a policy -- especially singles or those whose families won't be able to care for them -- to start shopping for a policy at age 50.
Choose an insurer that will likely still be in the long-term-care business decades from now when you may need to make a claim, experts said.
Wealthy individuals can probably pay for a lot of things out of pocket that they typically insure. Most will likely want to consider coverage nonetheless.
[Stephen A. Moses, "Project Proposal: Controlling Medicaid Long-Term Care Costs," The Flint Hills Center, January 2004.
[Matthew Hisrich, "Staying the Course: Medicaid Reform in Kansas," The Flint Hills Center for Public Policy, February 2004.]
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