Life insurance

Well, it just so happens that my hubby thinks I need to look into getting some long term health insurance. I was thinking uhmmmm a nursing home? but I am only 56. Why would I think about going to a nursing home? Then the agent turned up and explained it in some detail. It seems that the long term care ins. is so that we can stay in our homes longer and not need to go to a "home". I have only my medical ins. now and I worry about getting too sick to care for myself in my later years. The way the pacemaker is working I should only require battery changes every 7-10 years with a long term model.

So that brings me to my question which is: Do I need long term care ins? It is very expensive and it is a gamble. I could live a long time puttering around my house long after I actually retire, or I could have a something happen and require hospitalization and loose all my saving in one whack! What to do? I really can't afford a hefty sum every month right now. So, who knows, I might not pass the health physical anyway. I forgot that the traveling nurse was coming out to draw our blood and other things tonight so we went to dinner. Oh well.
I will be looking forward to reading your comments.
Take care and thank you!
Pacergirl

7 Comments

Cathy

by i_nurse99 - 2009-10-20 03:10:09

It is a matter of personal choice. I am a nurse, I joined this site after I had my pacemaker implanted 6 months ago.

With long term care insurance it is very expensive and when the time comes that you need to use it, it is just like any other disability insurance. Somebody has to jump lots of hoops trying to establish need. You can't just decide to go to a nursing home or assisted living because you feel you are not able to live alone anymore or it is too much on your family. You or your family has to prove your not able to live on your own. Then you have to find a facility to accept it because they also have to do extra time consuming paperwork, then after being approved they receive monthly call to verify that you have been there overnight every night and yearly review.

TracyE....I don't understand why your grandmother was discharged to home in the condition you describe. She should have at least been eligible for a 21 day medicare bed in a long term care with medicare beds. And they are everywhere as they are the moneymakers for the nursing homes and skilled care facilities.

If you have lots of assets you want to pass on to your kids it might be worth it. Just ask lots of question first.

i_nurse

by Tracey_E - 2009-10-20 04:10:36

I don't know! I argued with them, they said she was not eligible under Medicare rules and arranged transport to take her back to her assisted living facility, told me the nurse would check on her the next day. She was back in the hospital the next week. We had her in rehab a few times also. She spent most of the last few years going back and forth between her apartment, rehab and the hospital.

Live for the now

by Blueaustralia - 2009-10-20 06:10:24



You are young and it is something I have never considered - that type of insurance. Are you sure the agent has your best interests at heart or just his commission?

I tend to think that the future is mapped out for us. If I need care then I will just have to sell my house and provide for myself that way if I am on my own. Otherwise I married for sickness or in health and I feel it is my partner's job to then take care of me, if he can.

We cannot predict the future so live for today and enjoy what we have now, is my motto. All the best and cheers from Oz Billie

p.s.

by Tracey_E - 2009-10-20 07:10:12

my parents are about 10 yrs older than you. They checked out long term care insurance and decided it was too expensive so they passed on it. I understand why they made that decision but a bitty piece of my brain resents this, because I know who's going to be doing the juggling for them when the time comes. I always downplayed to them how much work it was with grandma because they felt guilty that I was doing it instead of them, so I didn't see the need for them to know just how hard it was.

i would get it

by Tracey_E - 2009-10-20 07:10:25

I think it's a good idea. Not because you have a pacemaker but because health care in our country has a lot of problems and long term care fills in some of the gaps. I think everyone should have it.

Background... I had primary care of my grandmother the last few years of her life. My parents travel all the time with work and I was always very close with her, so I took over going to all her drs visits and handling her finances the last few years.

Medicare hospitalization covers MEDICAL care, as in only things with an urgent need for round the clock medical care. Not CUSTODIAL care. If your medical needs can be met by a home nurse, they will not let you stay in the hospital for what they deem custodial needs.

Many people get Medicare supplements and that's great, but they only pay their portion AFTER Medicare pays... which means if Medicare won't pay the charge, they won't either.

My first eye opening experience with all this was when grandma had been hospitalized and was discharged at 4pm on Fri of a holiday weekend. She couldn't get up. She was on a catheter. She wasn't eating or drinking. But she did not need round the clock MEDICAL care so Medicare rules say she had to be discharged. She needed CUSTODIAL care, which is not covered by Medicare or her Medicare supplement. They sent a home nurse in to check on the cath, other than that I was on my own. I had two babies, mom and dad were away, my husband was away and they handed me a 90 yr old who couldn't be left alone. After hours on the phone (because it was a holiday weekend!) I found a home nurse agency and hired CNA's to stay with her around the clock.

She bounced back and was able to live on her own again but the same thing happened 5 or 6 more times and eventually she needed to be in a nursing home. It was a nice home- not the nicest or the fanciest but clean and friendly and I liked the staff.... $12,000/month just for the room, and that was 10 yrs ago.

Grandma started with a healthy nest egg but it lasted less than three years once we started hiring the CNA's and occasional nursing home stints. That's a huge drain on your savings and a burden for your family unless you're loaded or have long term care insurance to pay the tab.

When you have no assets left, Medicaid will take over, but you have to find a home with a Medicaid bed open which isn't easy, and finding a NICE one is really not easy. And things like life insurance and money set aside to pay for your funeral count as assets so if you have them you don't qualify for Medicaid. And if you don't qualify for round the clock medical care, Medicaid won't pay anyway because they don't pay custodial care either.

So, it's easy to say you'll just sell your house and make do and things will take care of themselves, but the reality is it's not that easy and the juggling of it is a full time job. A full time job you likely will not be able to do, your family will. I'm not complaining, I was honored to have that time with my grandmother, to have her put her trust in me and be able to take care of her at the end. I'm also lucky enough to have connections, brains, and time to do it, not to mention I had great luck finding help and facilities when I needed them. It all worked out, but it did not work out easily or effortlessly. I plan to get long term care insurance when the time comes so I lessen the burden on my kids.

my story

by jessie - 2009-10-20 09:10:13

my mom died of heart disease at age 65. i missed ehr every day. she was ill and i was glad she was not suffering. my dad lived to 87. i made his meals with ours and froze them in his freezer. ver y oft en every day i was there making sure he was oksy. he had a buzzer to call 911 around his shoulder. our son visited him too. i would never have wanted to miss it. he got to play with our first grandaughter who was very kind to him even as a toddler she seemed to know grandpa had an owie. he loved babies so she made his day. he was so good to us ans stayed when there were times...so he finally had to go in to a nursing home that was covered by his two government pensions so he still had his company pension for his needs. i know tho that hings get expensive. he lived ehre in our town of 11,000 and the beds have not gone up all that much. i think here it is best to live in a smallt own as people know you, it isn't as impersonal as big cities where you get lost in the shuffle. i just think that with the luck of the draw i will maybe drop dead suddenly and won't need homes. we love our home and the peace it gives us both. it is big enough and a challeng e to clean but the alternative is an apt. and both of us are not keen. so i guess it is a personal choice but i prefer to have fun while i am here. there is enought o buty myself and my spouse in the insurance policeis and in the meantime i am not going to these moneymaking places nor am i going to pay for insuurance no thank you. our kids know how we feel and i said even if i can only make toast with creamed chicken on it. don't get involved. our house never gets messy as we pick up and put away right away so they can't get us on that. you know the messy house with 19 years of newspaers and 900 cats. lol the best to all love jessie

i don't believe in it

by jessie - 2009-10-20 12:10:07

if you are trying to keep healthy and you get sick that's a gamble. i just think live now. the future will take care of itself. my dad had all the best and couldn't get a good place as there were no beds. so he ended up living in a not so nice palce and a bed never did become available till after his demise. he had turned down the good place the week before he ahd a stoke thininkg he did not need it.it might not be the best but is it worth worrying. is their a child who could take a year off for parent care. they have that now if you are dying.so to me it is too expwnsive and you are too young young lady. hehe love,jessie

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