Long-Term Care Insurance
Making sure you have the right amount of healthcare coverage as you age is important. Beyond standard healthcare, long-term care insurance provides for other needs that might impact your finances, like in-home care or nursing home costs.
Through KeyCorp Insurance Agency USA Inc., your advisor can help you decide if long-term care insurance should be a part of your financial plan. You’ll get the advice and guidance you need to help you choose the right policy from some of the nation’s leading insurance companies.
To get started, here are answers to a few frequently asked questions.
Why long-term care insurance?
- Long-term care expenses are costly and can quickly exhaust funds you've worked hard for, including your retirement savings.
- Health or disability insurance plans do not provide coverage for long-term care expenses.
- Federal or state assistance programs restrict the amount of assets you’re allowed to keep before long-term care coverage is provided to you.
- Long-term care insurance allows you to keep your dignity and make your own decisions – you can choose the facility you want and may be able to receive care right in your own home.
- Combination products now being offered allow the insured to provide a death benefit for their heirs should the long-term care feature of the policy never be needed.
How does long-term care insurance work?
- You purchase a policy that pays a predetermined amount, usually a daily benefit, toward the cost of care, and you are free to choose the facility or care service you want.
- Benefits typically become payable when the insured person is no longer able to perform a pre-established number of “activities of daily living” (ADLs), such as dressing, bathing and feeding oneself; benefits may also be payable in the event of diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, or when a physician determines that long-term care is necessary.
- You decide how long you want benefits to be paid – the longer the benefit, the higher the premiums will be. Once you are eligible for payments, there is usually a waiting period before payments begin; and the longer this period, the lower the policy premiums will be.
Who should consider long-term care insurance?
- If you are approaching retirement, have significant savings that could be affected by long-term care needs, or if you want to make sure that you have control over your long-term care needs.
- Makes the most sense for those with between $250,000 and $2 million in liquid assets.