Life insurance with living benefits to offset out of pocket expenses over age 65

Medicare doesn’t solve all health care problems over age 65 especially in the last 5 years of life.   From ScienceDaily:

They measured total out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures in the last five years of life, and looked at these costs as a percentage of total household assets. More than three quarters of households spent at least $10,000, with spending for all participants averaging $38,688 in the last five years of life. Even more shocking was the fact that a quarter of participants made an average contribution of $101,791, and the same number spent more than their total household assets on healthcare.

Dementia was the most costly.

One solution is to buy life insurance with chronic illness benefits which allows the policy’s to be used long term care, if needed.

Long Term Care coverage: how long?

After reviewing life insurance/long term care hybrid coverage options, the question comes down how much LTC coverage is sufficient?  There are two separate questions:  how much you’ll need, and how long will you’ll need it.  The best reference source on cost is Genworth’s annual cost of care survey.

For length of time, here are national statistics complied by a Montana LTC guide:

36%   stay less than 1 year

32.5%  stay less 1 – 3 years

14%  stay from 3 to 5 years

17%  stay 5 years or longer

Continue reading “Long Term Care coverage: how long?”