Alternative to a Nursing Home

Long Term Care Insurance – A Means to Prevent a Nursing Home Stay

Since 1988 I have worked in the field of aging. My experiences has made it clear to me that best course of action is to keep clients as far away from Nursing Homes as possible. My goal is to keep my clients at home for as long as possible, if not for the rest of their lives.

Based on my personal experience, the fundamentally institutional nature of a Nursing Home prevents them from offering dignified care. There are good hearted, well intentioned caregivers in many Nursing Homes, but the demands of institutional settings hamper the quality of care caregivers are able to provide.

Insurance companies and financial advisors who sell Long Term Care Insurance do not realize what it is like to actually live in an institutional setting. This might explain why most of the professional literature is written incorrectly.

Agents usually offer Long Term Care Insurance plans based on Nursing Home Cost and the average length of stay in a Nursing Home (average is 3 years). There are references to a “continuum of care” with home care ranked at the lowest level and Nursing Home at the top. How can a Nursing Home resident be better off receiving approximately 3 hours of direct care in a 24 hour period from low paid, overworked, Nursing Home Staff compared to a disabled individual who can have full time care from a private caregiver at home?

As a professional Insurance Agent, I best serve my clients by helping them plan ahead so they can receive care at home when the time comes. By having a comprehensive Long Term Care Insurance policy, we have together put the appropriate plan of action in place.

“Home Care provides choices such as the type of food you like to eat, to the music you like to hear”

By educating my clients and doing advanced planning, I strive to serve them well. I try to help my clients achieve fuller, happier and more dignified lives. Secure in the knowledge that they will never become a burden to those they love.

A good Long Term Care Insurance policy with excellent home care benefits can keep you out of a Nursing Home.

After all…”There’s No Place Like Home!”

Abe Glickman, LTCA, LTCP

Member: AALTCI, NAHU, NAIFA, SOA

Abe Glickman Insurance Group

Toll-Free Phone: 877-298-5824

Email: AG@AbeGlickman.com

“It is better to create a plan 10 years too soon than one day too late.”

Questions or Comments? Give me a call!

From Harvard Health Letter (Harvard Medical School) May 2015

The Dollars and Sense of Long-Term-Care; why you should plan now for care you may need later.

Financial planning for our later years tends to focus on living expenses and activities. But it’s also important to plan for the cost of care when you’re no longer able to live independently. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that the majority of us-70% of those ages 65 and older-will need some form of long-term care, with the average person requiring three years of assistance.

Yet only 35% of Americans ages 40 and older have set aside money to pay for long-term care, and just 41% are talking about their preferences with their families, according to a report from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “It’s very challenging to come to terms with the idea that we’re getting older and won’t be self-sufficient. As a result, many people don’t address long-term care,” says Dr. David Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.

Consequences

By not planning, you risk two problems. Once is that you’ll lose control over the care you receive. “Many people push it off to their families” says Dr. Grabowski. “But your family may make decisions that are very different from the one’s you’d make.”

The other problem is that you may not have money to pay for long-term care if you don’t plan for it. That lack of funding often forces loved ones to provide care. “Families are actually the biggest providers of long-term care in the country, “says Dr. Grabowski. But when a person’s care exceeds what a family can provide, care often falls to an institutional setting. “If the finances aren’t in place to pay for that, the risk is ending up in a low-quality setting,” says Dr. Grabowski.

Long-Term Care Options

Several types of long-term care are available. Some allow you to live at home, being cared for either by a family member or by certified aides trained to help with activities such as bathing, dressing, feeding and using the bathroom. The latter is called private-duty care, and prices average $21 per hour. You can also live a home but spend the day in an adult day care facility for an average of $67 per day.

Options outside the home begin with an assisted living facility. You might be a candidate if you have minor medical problems but need help with meals, medication management, bathing, dressing, and transportation. The average cost for a one-bedroom unit is about $3,300 per month. If you have a medical condition that needs daily monitoring or if you have dementia, you’ll likely need to be in a nursing home, where the average costs range from $6,000 to $7,000 per month, depending on whether you have a semi-private room.

Who Pays for Long-Term Care?

Most people believe that Medicare will come to the rescue when it’s time for long-term care. That’s not the case. Medicare will pay for short-term stay in a nursing home (up to 100 days) after a three-day hospital stay. Medicare will also pay for skilled health professional, such as nurses and physical therapist, to provide services in your home if they are medically necessary and prescribed by a doctor. This is called Home Health services and is different from private-duty care, which is not covered by Medicare. Home Health lasts only six weeks. The service is designed to get you back on your feet after a temporary setback, such as surgery, hard-to-heal wounds, or broken bones. Medicare does not provide long-term solutions. Paying for long-term care is limited to a few options, including private pay (full price from your own pocket), long-term care insurance, Medicaid, and veterans’ benefits. Obtaining some of these benefits can be quite complicated and time-consuming.

Start Planning Now

You will need to begin planning for long-term care with assistance from legal and financial professionals. You may need the advice of an elder law attorney, who also can assist you with comprehensive estate planning, including trusts, will, powers of attorney, medical powers of attorney, and advance medical directives. A professional financial planner can help you think about the trade-offs of saving for potential long-term care needs versus purchasing private long-term care insurance.

The most important discussions might be the ones you have with your family members. Where do you want to receive care? Who do you want to provide it? What role will your family have in this? Much of this might be dictated by your health and wealth, but it is surprising how many families fail to have these conversations.

Planning for your long-term care now can make a world of difference, even if you feel you’ve saved enough money for the future. “There are plenty of stories of people how, in spite of having money or a lot of family resources, can’t navigate the system because they haven’t planned in advance for these needs,” says Dr. Grabowski.

No Nursing Home for Me!

No Nursing Home for Me (Now this is what I call an alternate plan of care!)

About two years ago, I was on a cruise through the western Mediterranean, aboard a Princess liner. At dinner I noticed an elderly lady sitting alone along the rail of the grand stairway in the main dining room. I also noticed that all the staff, ship offices, waiters, busboys, etc., all seemed very familiar with this woman. I asked my waiter who she was, expecting to be told that she owned the line, but he said he only knew that she had been on board for the four cruises, back to back.

As I left the dining room, I caught her eye and stopped to say hello. We chatted for a little while and I finally said, “I understand you have been on this ship for the last four cruises.” She replied, “Yes, that’s true.” I stated, “I don’t understand,” and without a pause, she replied, “It’s cheaper than a nursing home.”

So, there will be no nursing home in my future either. When I get old and feeble, I am going to get on a Princess Cruise Ship. The average cost for a nursing home is $200 per day. I have checked on reservations at Princess and I can get a Long Term Discount and Senior Discount price of $135 per day. That leaves $65 a day for:

Gratuities which will only be $10 per day.
I will have as many as 10 meals a day if I can waddle to the restaurant, or have room service (which means I can have breakfast in bed every day of the week).
Princess has as many as three swimming pools, a workout room, free washer and dryers, and shows every night.
They have free toothpaste, razors, soap, and shampoo.
The Princess Staff will even treat you like a customer, not a patient. An extra $5 worth of tips will have the entire will have the entire staff scrambling to help you.
I will get to meet new people every 7 to 14 days.
TV Broken? Light bulb need changing? Need to have the mattress replaced? No Problem! They will fix everything and apologize for your inconvenience.
Clean sheets and towels everyday day, and you don’t even have to ask for them!
If you fall in the nursing home and break a hip, you are on Medicare. If you fall and break a hip on the Princess ship, they upgrade you to a suite for the rest of your life.

Now, hold onto your seats for the best part! Do you want to see South America, the Panama Canal, Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, or anywhere you want to go? Princess will have a ship ready to go!

So don’t look for me in a nursing home, just call shore to ship.

P.S. Don’t forget, when you die, they just dump you over the side at no charge!