Plan for the Future with Long Term Care Insurance
Long term care insurance is a policy that helps pay for long term care. Long term care is expensive, and generally not covered by Medicaid or traditional insurance. That’s why some people plan for their future by purchasing long term care insurance.
A long term policy has several benefits. Most notably is that it helps pay for your long term care expenses. That means you don’t have to dip into your savings or sell all of your belongings to pay the cost. This type of policy also reduces the stress felt by family members trying to provide your care.
Here are 4 tips for obtaining affordable long term care insurance.
1. Obtain a policy when you’re healthy and young. The older you are, the more of a risk you are for the insurer. Premiums reflect this by being higher than those for younger and healthier people. The younger and healthier you are, the lower your premiums. But the premiums will likely increase over time as you age.
2. Skip the lifetime policy. Five years is statistically the longest amount of time you’ll need long term care. If an illness runs in your family, then you might want to consider an extended policy. But other than that, getting a policy for fewer than 3 years is likely sufficient. An extended policy is generally cheaper than a lifetime policy.
3. Extend the waiting period. A long term care policy has a waiting period before coverage starts. It’s common for waiting period to last 30 to 90 days. But the longer the waiting period, the lower your premiums. Unless you’re really sick, consider extending your wait time.
4. Choose a policy with inflation protection. Inflation protection means the value of the policy automatically increases to keep pace with inflation.