Long Term Care Planning
Do you have a plan to pay for long-term care?
Many Florida seniors are shocked when they realize that Medicare will not fully cover their healthcare costs after retirement, particularly their long-term care costs. The reality is that Medicare only covers nursing home costs for a very short period. At best, Medicare will pay for all or part of the first one hundred days of care and only if it follows a hospital stay to recuperate from an acute illness or injury.
With an average stay in a nursing home of approximately 2.2 years for men and 2.7 years for women, the cost can be staggering. Even if your plan is to be cared for at home, that period of care can be lengthy and the associated costs prohibitive. To get an idea of the cost, according to Genworth Financial the average rate in 2020 for a private room in a SW Florida nursing home was $385 per day ($140,525/year). At a compounded annual inflation rate of 5 percent, the LTC costs for that same private room in 2030 would be a little over $228,900 per year.
7 out of 10 Americans will need some form of long-term care during their lives
Source: www.longtermcare.gov
Even the cost of in-home care can be substantial. The average hourly cost for a home care aid worker in 2020 was approximately $26 per hour and, when the need is great, such as in the case of Alzheimer’s disease, the overall costs of home care can mount up quickly and cause significant financial stress. In fact, failure to plan for LTC is the primary cause of poverty among older Americans. The best way to be prepared for the cost of LTC is to purchase LTC insurance.
When purchasing LTC insurance, you should consider four basic components in your decision:
- Benefit amount: The maximum fixed-dollar amount that a policy will pay each day.
- Inflation adjustment: The increase in the benefit amount to cover the effect of inflation.
- Benefit period: The length of time an LTC policy will pay for covered services (e.g., two years to unlimited time).
- Elimination period: The number of days that you pay for covered services before the policy pays (e.g., 30-, 60-, 90-, 120- or 365-day period).
Kilbourn Associates can help you discover and purchase long-term care insurance that fits your needs and budget. We are licensed to sell insurance in Florida and are also available to answer questions about long-term care payment strategies using alternate products. Call Mike for a no-obligation consultation at (239) 261-1888.
Leading Causes for Long Term Care
- Alzheimer’s Disease – 96 months
- Cancer – 36 months
- Cardiac Conditions – 16 months
- Diabetes – 48 months
- Pulmonary Conditions – 36 months
- Stroke – 21 months
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Kilbourn Associates has been providing estate planning and family wealth transfer services to clients around the United States for over 40 years. Mike Kilbourn is the author of several books on financial planning and the founder of the Wealth Protection Network, a collaborative client-focused collective of financial planning professionals.