Shopping for a new sports car or planning the trip of a lifetime is fun and fills us with anticipation. The same cannot be said for long-term care planning. Like jury duty and unplanned visits to the dentist, getting it behind you is a generally best.
It’s understandable. Chronic illness and age-related disability are difficult subjects for many people, which is one reason that financial and legal advisors, the very people we pay to watch out for us, don’t typically broach the subject of long-term care planning. While the best of them will refer their clients to a professional who specializes in the area, most financial and legal advisors are simply not knowledgeable about the potentially astronomical costs of care and the many insurance products available to help cover those costs.
Sometimes it takes a well-intentioned messenger to bridge the gap between ignorance and enlightened action. Like Katie Couric championing routine colonoscopies after her husband died of rectal cancer, the best messengers are those who have seen the downside of inaction. Without pressuring others to act, they instead remind and encourage us to consider the ramifications of ignorance or inaction, and long-term care is a frequently misunderstood topic.
For example, many people mistakenly believe:
- Medicare pays for most long-term care
- Long-term care insurance is best purchased after age 60
- Long-term care insurance is outrageously expensive
- A better strategy is to invest the premiums and self-insure
These mistaken beliefs would almost be amusing if the potential consequences weren't so tragic and expensive. Of course, it's not up to you to convince another adult to purchase long-term care insurance. However, whether you have a professional obligation or fiduciary responsibility, or are just a practitioner of the Golden Rule, please considered this:
You can help many individuals and families simply by encouraging them to get the facts on long-term care insurance while they are healthy and young enough to more easily afford the purchase.
Taking appropriate action, motivated by awareness and a frank look at funding choices is the goal of long-term care insurance, and it doesn't have to be a complicated or unpleasant subject. Taking responsibility for your own health and welfare can help you avoid years of poverty or substandard care.
Dorothy McMahon is a Long-Term Care Specialist who has been helping Michigan families for many years. She can be reached at (248) 844-9787 or LTCInsUSA@aol.com.
