Do You Know Long-Term Care? (Part 1/3)

Long-term care is a range of services and supports you may need to meet your personal care needs. Most long-term care is not medical care, but rather assistance with the basic personal tasks of everyday life, sometimes called Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). Long-term care insurance helps cover the costs of home and nursing care when you are not able to perform ADLs on your own.

As we continue celebrating LTC Awareness month, we want to see how much you know about long-term care. The goal of LTC Awareness month is to create heightened awareness of the need for long-term care and the importance of planning options available to Americans and their families.

Now we want to ask: are the following three statements[1] true or false?

1. Disability insurance and long-term care insurance cover the same things.

  Disability insurance provides you with income if you become sick or injured and are unable to work. It is not designed to cover LTC expenses.[2]

2. The average lifetime chance of needing long-term care for an individual 65 years or older is more than 40%.

  It is estimated that approximately 70% of people over age 65 will require long-term care services at some point in their lives.[3]

3. People have to spend all or almost all of their assets to get Medicaid benefits.

  While the maximum level of assets you’re allowed to keep caries from state to state, people are required to spend down assets to a significaltly low level before they can qualify for Medicaid benefits.[4] In some states, policyholders may receive additional asset protection if they have a Partnership-qualified policy.

To learn more information about LTC and your LTC needs, please contact Keith Eig.

 

 

[1] Statements given by John Hancock’s Long-Term Care Quiz.
[2] H. Komisar and L. Thompson, National Spending for Long-Term Care (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Long-Term Care Financing Project, February 2007, Fact Sheet).
[3] US Department of Health and Human Services, National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information, www.longtermcare.gov, September 2008.
[4] The Official US Government Sit for People with Medicare, www.medicare.gov; Medicaid and Long-term Care, “What is Long-term Care?” August 2006.