When should I buy long term care insurance?

BY IRENE C. CARD and BETSY CHANDLER

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE

This past week I was asked the question, "When should I buy long term care insurance"? What a great question and the answer is that there is no definite age but the younger you are, the better. You spend less money on premiums over the course of your lifetime if you purchase this in your 40's and 50's. First, let me give you an introduction to long term care and long term care insurance.

Long term care, simply stated, is care that you will require if you can no longer take care of yourself. You do not have to be hospitalized first for a policy to pay benefits. You must need substantial assistance with two out of six activities of daily living, or have a cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's or senile dementia. The activities of daily living include eating, bathing, dressing, transferring (from a chair to the bed, etc.), toileting, and continence. Long term care insurance helps to pay for this care and when you meet this definition, your policy kicks in and you no longer pay a premium.

All of us have insurance on our automobiles, our houses, and perhaps our life (depending on our age). But long term care is the largest, single, uninsured liability that most people in their fifties, sixties and beyond will have to face. How will you pay for this? Long term care insurance protects our assets and the alternative to not purchasing long term care insurance means that your family may have to deal with crisis management when something happens. Having a plan in place is an act of love for your family.

In the first paragraph I stated that there is no definite age when you should purchase long term care insurance but you should understand the consequences of waiting. You must be in fairly good health to purchase this type of insurance and if you are in really excellent health and are a non-smoker, most companies will give you a preferred rating. You may develop health issues, even minor ones which would preclude you from getting the preferred rating (a savings of 10 to 20 percent, per year, depending on the company). Statistics show that at age 50, an applicant is far more likely to qualify for a preferred rating than at age 60. Health issues of a more serious nature may cause a person to be uninsurable and preclude the coverage at any rate. Worst of all, something very serious may occur and you may need the coverage and not have it.

Talk to anyone who has had a loved one in a nursing home or who has taken care of a loved one at home and they will tell you how costly (about $300 per day in this geographic area) it is to have a loved on a nursing home.

Irene Card & Betsy Chandler are licensed insurance professionals working at MIC Insurance Services, a health insurance services company. If you have questions relative to this column or other related topics, we invite you to call (973) 492-2828, or visit our web site at www.micinsurance.com.