Long-term Care Insurance Explained

Long-term care insurance, also known as LTC insurance, is a type of insurance policy that provides financing when the policyholder is in need of either nursing home care, home-based health care, or adult day care. Usually, a policy of this type will cover such needs for individuals above the age of 65 who are not interested in auto insurance quotes, or cheap car insurance, or who have a chronic condition or a disability requiring constant supervision. As compared with the usual public assistance program, LTC insurance coverage is more flexible and provides significantly more options.

The basis of long term care insurance payouts is the inability of an individual to engage free from assistance in six basic ADLS or Activities of Daily Living. These are eating, dressing, bathing, being ambulatory, using the bathroom, and incontinence. The ability of the individual to perform ADLs is the important factor for determining what type of long-term care insurance will be needed. The usual deciding factor is whether or not someone is unable to perform two or more of the ADLs. If so, they'll be considered as being in need of some kind of professional long-term care.

There are two factors that explain why LTC insurance policies began to be developed during the last 20 years. For the most part, long-term care is usually exceptionally expensive. In the United States, the average cost of a person staying in a nursing home for one year is $80,000. In-home custodial care can exceed $10,000 annually. Also, nearly half of all Americans over the age of 65 will eventually need LTC, typically nursing home care, or cheap car insurance. Actually over half of them will only stay in the nursing home less than a year, while nearly 25% will be there for a long time (exceeding a year).

LTC insurance policies can be compared to having a fist full of dollars, but the amount is limited. LTC policies cover only a specific dollar amount for each day that the insured individual lives in a nursing facility, or it might cover a particular amount for each custodial home care visit, and has a lifetime limit geared to the amount of premium, stating how much the policy will pay out as a grand total. This is why when you are considering auto insurance quotes or an LTC insurance policy, you should read the policy's terms, and conditions, and limitations very carefully and compare the benefits to determine which policy will best meet your personal needs.

Most Long term care insurance and cheap car insurance providers do offer policies that may provide some financing for auto insurance quotes or alternative forms of care such as building a wheelchair ramp for your home.