By Mike Rowan, www.Erollover.com 2008

Should I buy Long-Term Care Insurance?

If you can afford long-term care insurance, you should probably consider it. Why? Because the cost of long-term care, should you need it, can quickly deplete your life’s savings. For instance, having a home health aide visit just three days a week can cost more than $20,000 annually. Full-time nursing home care, the most expensive type of care, now averages $69,000 to $78,000 per year. In some regions of the country, like the Northeast, the cost may be twice that amount.

While financial considerations cannot be understated, long-term care insurance isn’t only about money. It’s also about peace of mind. Having it ensures you’ll have access to first-rate care when you need it. It also means you won’t have to be dependent on others or be a burden to your children.

How Much Does Long-term Care Cost?

Long-term care services, whether obtained in a nursing home full-time or in your house a few days a week, can cost a considerable amount. But prices vary widely throughout the country due to cost of living differences, state and local regulations and other factors.

Our Cost of Care map shows the average daily cost of nursing home care, and the hourly cost of home health care, for metropolitan areas in all 50 states. As you’ll see from the costs, the question isn’t always can you afford to have long-term insurance - it’s can you afford not to.

See What Long-term Care Costs in Your Area

What types of care are avaliable?

Long-term care insurance pays for a wide range of services and procedures that typically aren’t covered by a person’s medical insurance. The types of care fall into three categories: skilled, intermediate and custodial. Read on to understand the differences between the various types of care.
Skilled
If you have a serious illness or injury that you can recover from, you will probably receive skilled care from nurses or professional therapists. Skilled care is provided daily, usually ordered by a physician, and involves a treatment plan. In short, skilled care helps get you better.
Intermediate Care
This type of care is the same as skilled care, but not provided on a daily basis. For instance, if you injured your leg and need to visit a physical therapist five times a week to help you heal, that would be considered intermediate care.
Custodial Care
Unlike skilled and intermediate care, which is used to improve your health, custodial care isn’t intended to get you better. Instead, custodial care includes assistance with daily activities like bathing, eating, dressing, toileting (getting on and off the toilet and other tasks associated with personal hygiene), continence and transferring (getting in and out of bed and chairs). Catheter or colostomy drain are other examples of custodial care. Custodial care can range from in-home care provided two or three days a week, to 24-hour nursing home care.

What are the odds you’ll need long-term care insurance?

Greater than you might imagine. There’s about a 50 percent chance you’ll need some type of long-term care after age 65. And long-term care services are not just for older people. A young or middle-aged person who has been in an accident or suffers from a debilitating illness may very well require long-term care services. In fact, 40 percent of patients receiving long-term care are under age 65.

Please visit www.erollover.com to find a qualified long term care professional near you.

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