Getting a Long Term Care insurance involves a transfer of risk of bearing the cost of the services of a nursing home or a residential care to an insurance company in lieu of a premium.
The decision to get coveredmay be the most important decision that an individual decides to make.
However, on a careful analysis, the process of getting covered by a Long Term Care (LTC) insurance plan comprises of decision making on two separate issues.
The first is, do I really need to get a Long Term Care (LTC) insurance cover? If the answer to the first question is in affirmative, another question arises, what are the things to be kept in mind while getting the coverage? The answers to both these questions can be found by a step-by-step approach as follows: 1.
Find out if you really need LTC insurance? This involves a calculation of your ability to self-insure.
For example, if a person is worth more than a million dollars, it may be cost effective for him to put some of his corpus in a fund that can take care of his future long-term care needs.
2.
Calculate your ability to depend on the state funded programs for meeting any long-term care expenses.
3.
Once you are sure that you would require a LTC insurance cover, contact several adult care homes or nursing homes and talk to a long-term care insurance expert.
4.
Try to gather information about different insurance companies that have good track records in terms of payment of claims and customer satisfaction ratings.
5.
Check out the average per-day, per-person care costs for the different healthcare facilities.
6.
Calculate the average per-day costs that you would require for long-term care.
7.
Contact an insurance agent specializing in long-term care insurance and determine the amount of insurance that will be sufficient for you.
8.
Apply to a number of different insurance companies to ensure that you have mentioned your features consistently and can make an objective cost comparison.
In the actual Long Term Care (LTC) insurance contract, don't forget to check out the following points: 1.
What are the different services covered by the policy? 2.
What does the policy pay per-day for the long-term care? 3.
How long will the policy benefits last in a nursing home and at home? 4.
Does the policy offer a maximum lifetime benefit? If yes, how much is it? 5.
Does the policy have a maximum duration of coverage for each period of confinement? If yes, how much is it? 6.
How long will the preexisting conditions take for the policy to come into effect? 7.
How soon will the benefits begin? 8.
Are mental disorders and conditions like Alzheimer's disease covered in the policy? 9.
Does the policy needs a prior nursing home stay for home healthcare coverage? 10.
Is the policy renewal guaranteed? 11.
What is the valid age for getting enrolled? 12.
Are there any provisions for premium waiver? 13.
After what duration of confinement are premiums waived? 14.
Do the policy provide a non-forfeiture benefit? 15.
Is the policy adjusted for inflation?