Long-Term Care Is In The News-What is Your Plan?

With health care reform passed, everyone is hearing more and more about the CLASS Act and how it will affect ones' planning for long-term care. The details of the CLASS Act are still uncertain.

What we do know and simply stated is that CLASS creates a new voluntary government program under which individuals will pay a monthly premium and will be eligible for modest benefits for their long-term care needs after five years of paying premiums.

While CLASS is often characterized as a long-term care program, it is primarily designed as a program to provide future assistance to the working disabled. Traditional long-term care insurance requires that applicants meet certain good-health requirements. CLASS will not have such health qualification requirements. The plan will be available on a guaranteed-issue basis.

Long-Term Care insurance is an important health insurance product designed to meet a growing need in this country. The good news is we are all living longer and medical advancements help us survice more illnesses and injuries than in the past. With all this said, it also means we have a greater need for long-term care.

While life insurance offers financial protection when someone dies, LTCi is a "living benefit" designed to protect you while you are alive. People need to be prepared to survive- not only physically if they get sick or need care, but also financially. If you needed long-term care, your assets could be depleted.

If you do not own long-term care insurance, here are some thing to keep in mind:

• It will be at least two years before CLASS is operational (2013) and another five years from that time benefore any benefits can be paid (2018).
• CLASS is not a contractual obligation (the way private long-term care insurance is). The provisions of the plan can be changed at any point by Congress.
• Lower premiums may be offered to healthy,low-income individuals and many in poor health will take advantage with the anticipation of benefits. As a result, those in good health (or with good incomes) will be subsidizing others. Private insurance is not based on income -- this type of 'subsidization' does not exist.
• The government plan is very limited in what it will eventually pay ($50 or $75 per day is way below the cost for quality comprehensive care at home and certainly far less than the cost for care in an assisted living community or skilled nursing home setting).
• PLUS, there are several advantages of private long-term care insurance offered on an individual basis or available through your employer.

For a free, no obligation consultation for your long-term care planning, call 949-854-3001 or 877-GO-4-LTCI or email me at dane@LongTermCareInsurancePros.com