Long term care insurance

[Hedy]

What's your opinion of long term care insurance? I'm 23, fairly healthy. My parents and grandparents all lived independantly (so far) until their deaths, although my father had a number of chronic illnesses. I'm wondering if it might make sense for me to get LTC insurance while I am young and healthy.
Anybody out there have it?

[disneysteve]

From what I know, which is admittedly limited, LTC is a good idea, but I think getting it at 23 is premature. At your age, I'd be worried about having good disability insurance and term life if you have any dependents.

I think around age 50 is when LTC should start coming into play.

[Hedy]

From what I know, which is admittedly limited, LTC is a good idea, but I think getting it at 23 is premature. At your age, I'd be worried about having good disability insurance and term life if you have any dependents.

I think around age 50 is when LTC should start coming into play.

Ok, I just keep on hearing early and I never know how early is early. I have disability through work as well as life ins-I'm the only one dependant on my income, but it's enough to pay off my student loans and my car.

[Fern]

Yeah, you're waaay ahead of the game. You'll hear varying advice on this, but most say don't even consider til you're in your 50s. Some say don't consider til you're 65.

[MonkeyMama]

I have to agree with the others. We have all our other bases covered (just turned 30) so was looking into it and discussing with my insurance agent. We decided it was something we would evaluate again in your 40s. If you can lock in great rates at 49 vs. 51, why not.

However, I have been reading a lot of articles on how there is a lot of non-payments on these policies. Insurance companies not coming through, etc. It scares me off even more of locking my money into a company that may or not come through, or may or may not be around in 40 years when we need the benefits.

It is also interesting none of our elderly relatives have been in a home thus far. They are all either healthy as a bull, or succumbed quickly to some disease. So I feel rather confident waiting much longer.

I think that is the thing for now. You can lock it in real cheap today, but will come with much risk all the same. If you wait until your 50s there may be much better options. It will cost much more, but at least you have a better idea what you will be getting.

[disneysteve]

You can lock it in real cheap today, but will come with much risk all the same.

Insurance salespeople love to tout the "savings" of locking in rates at a younger age. They fail to mention that you will then be paying premiums for a longer period of time. If you get LTC at age 30 instead of age 50, sure it will be cheaper, but you'll pay premiums for 20 more years, so will you truly save anything over your lifetime? Possibly not.

[scfr]

I was looking in to LTC insurance this morning, and found a good article on the topic by Consumer Reports:

ConsumerReports.org - Long-term-care insurance 11/03: Long-term health care, elderly care, disability insurance plan.

For those of us who have HSAs, we can use our HSA funds to pay for LTC insurance, so it's definitely something to think about (and another good reason to have a HSA).

I decided not to get it right now, but will revisit the idea in about 5 years.

[pearlieq]

It really depends on what your health is like and what your risk factors are.

I think anymore 50 is too late for a lot of people. How many people make it to 50 these days without some kind of diagnosis that makes it challenging to get LTC insurance? Especially now that we're creating terms like "pre-diabetes" and "pre-hypertension". It's not always impossible to get LTC coverage with these conditions, but it's often much harder and much more costly.

To be very clear, I'm not against treating these conditions or even identifying them early. I'm just saying most people aren't making it to 50 without something coming up. I think it's prudent to shop earlier rather than later, especially if you have risk factors or a family history of certain illnesses.

[disneysteve]

I think anymore 50 is too late for a lot of people. How many people make it to 50 these days without some kind of diagnosis that makes it challenging to get LTC insurance?

I'm just saying most people aren't making it to 50 without something coming up.

I think you are right about diagnoses coming up earlier. I think that is for 2 main reasons.

1. We are treating things more aggressively and lowering the diagnostic criteria. For example, a normal fasting blood sugar used to be 110 or less. It is now 99 or less. A normal cholesterol level used to be 240 or less. It is now 199 or less.

2. OBESITY. I think this is the main reason, by far, that things like diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and other conditions are getting diagnosed at younger and younger ages. If people don't stop piling on the pounds, they have to get used to the idea of taking meds for life, paying higher insurance rates and possibly not even qualifying for certain coverage.

For someone in good health who takes care of themselves, eats a reasonably healthy diet, gets some regular exercise and keeps to a normal weight, I think buying LTC before age 50 probably isn't necessary.

[aida2003]

Ok, I just keep on hearing early and I never know how early is early. I have disability through work as well as life ins-I'm the only one dependant on my income, but it's enough to pay off my student loans and my car.

Now sure about the car loan, but I read somewhere that a student loan is forgiven (written off) after you die, so I am guessing you don't need life insurance just to cover your student loans.

[Thrif-t]

I'm really interested in this subject and am on the fence on what to do about it also. I'm 41 and my DH44. Thing is Altzheimers runs in my DH's family. His paternal grandmother had it but not until her 80's, then both of his maternal grandparents had it but again not till 80's..but the kicker his mom has it and she started around 65 with it. That's scary. The maternal grandparents were in a nursing home for 4 years each..but they had the money so no problems. I see MIL going into a nursing home too but FIL has the money so it should'nt be a problem. But if my DH gets it I'm not sure we'll have the money for a possilbe 3-5 nursing home stay. It's really scary and like another poster mentioned you don't want to lock in w/someone who's not going to be there when you need them.

[Dixiechick]

I may have started too young by some people's estimate, but given the history of my parents (both diagnosed with cancer in early to mid 50's with both dying while in their 50's), I enrolled through work for LTC insurance. The premium was the cheapest at that time because of my age (it will only cost me $800 a year for however long I keep it because it's a fixed amount - won't increase), but I'm figuring it's worth the peace of mind. I'm a single mom with 2 kids...

[disneysteve]

The premium was the cheapest at that time because of my age (it will only cost me $800 a year for however long I keep it because it's a fixed amount - won't increase

I wouldn't bet on this being true. Premiums are constantly going up on LTC policies. That is one of the biggest complaints from customers - they bought a policy for one price and within a year or two, the company jacked up the price for the same coverage. Many people have been forced to reduce their coverage to keep the premiums affordable.

[Dixiechick]

I wouldn't bet on this being true. Premiums are constantly going up on LTC policies. That is one of the biggest complaints from customers - they bought a policy for one price and within a year or two, the company jacked up the price for the same coverage. Many people have been forced to reduce their coverage to keep the premiums affordable.

No, this is a fixed premium. I work for the federal government and it's the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program. I locked in at that rate as long as I maintain the premium. It won't increase as I get older. But the benefits increase with inflation. It was $720/week for max benefit when I enrolled and it's now up to $824/week. It specifically states in the contract that the premiums won't increase with age and the benefits won't decrease. I have to take their word/contract for it...

[disneysteve]

No, this is a fixed premium. I work for the federal government and it's the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program. I locked in at that rate as long as I maintain the premium. It won't increase as I get older. But the benefits increase with inflation. It was $720/week for max benefit when I enrolled and it's now up to $824/week. It specifically states in the contract that the premiums won't increase with age and the benefits won't decrease. I have to take their word/contract for it...

Gotcha. Federal programs are different, since we (taxpayers) pay for them.

So your premium is fixed for life but your benefits increase with inflation? That's a great deal for you. Of course, it will just add to the spiraling federal deficit since that is an impossible situation to support on the government's end. But I'd be just as quick to take advantage of it if I could.