The Long Term Care (LTC) Blog
We Simply Cannot Believe We Are Getting Older – A Conversation Overheard
A few days ago, I overheard a woman who looked as if she were in her 50s talking on the subway to another woman who looked to be in her 50s. One told the other, “My mother is coming to New York. But she’ll have a hard time getting around. She can’t climb up stairs, or…
Read MoreGot $730K Saved For Nursing Care? Dementia Could Cost That Much (USA TODAY)
People with dementia — especially those with Alzheimer’s disease — often live for years after reaching the point where they need 24-hour care, leaving families in an emotional, financial and logistical quagmire. Randy and Mary Kaump of Hamden, Conn., know this all too well. Randy’s mother, Janis, just passed her 97th birthday in her $13,000-a-month nursing home…
Read More41% Of All Family Caregiver Hours Are For Dementia
The number of US adults age 65 or older who have dementia is expected to grow, raising concerns about the demands on family members and other unpaid caregivers. This study uses the 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study and its companion National Study of Caregiving to examine the role of dementia in caregiving for…
Read MoreWhat Do You Need To Do, And When – When Long-Term Care Is Needed
This advice comes courtesy of a relative with a husband needing care. She told me that if he cannot recover enough to come home from the rehab facility, she will sell the house for a smaller place to live. This seems like a logical thought until one understand how Medicaid treats you when you must…
Read MoreThree Things You Must Know About Collecting On Your Long-Term Care Insurance
You’ve paid premiums all these years hoping you would never need care, but it’s getting so hard to get around that you need to cry uncle and arrange for some help. Now you hope the LTC insurance policy will do what you expect. Lets review what the triggers are for most LTC insurance policies,…
Read MoreMy Mother Needs Long-Term Care Help And Has Little Money, Can We Protect Some Of It?
I am sorry to hear of your mother’s situation. There are many people caught in similar circumstances. Long-Term Care (LTC) is expensive and many people are unprepared when the need (often suddenly) arises. There are three ways to pay for LTC; money, Medicaid, and insurance. Let’s stat with Medicare. Medicare is health insurance. It will…
Read MoreNew Long-Term Care Insurance Products That May Not Do What They Promise
Many agents are excited about the new LTC insurance products based on getting a percentage of a life insurance benefit to be used when LTC is needed. They mock the “use or lose it” line while most of their products do exactly that. First let’s look at the use it or lose it concern. Many…
Read MoreDon’t Get In Trouble With Small Gifts
According to gift tax rules, any person can gift up to $14,000 to another person each year without incurring any gift tax consequences. That means a husband and wife can each gift up to $14,000 to a child each year, and to the child’s spouse each year, effectively moving $56,000 per year to a couple…
Read MoreHaving Difficulty Collecting On A Long-Term Care Insurance Policy?
Perhaps I can assist. Most policies that cover LTC are very similar in how one qualifies for benefits, either needing help with 2 activities of daily living, or having a cognitive impairment. Lets start with the activities of daily living (ADL’s) trigger. Typically the requirement is that you need help with two out of six;…
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