Dear Valued Customer,

There is a good chance you will need some long-term care services if you live beyond the age of sixty five.

In this issue of “——————–“ we point out the value of planning ahead for long-term care, and it’s vital if you want to save your assets and income for uses other purposes.

Read on to understand how a long-term care policy helps defray the costs of providing care, whether in a nursing home, am adult day care center, an assisted living facility, or at home, and please contact us for more information. We have knowledgeable people on our staff who understand long-term care insurance.

It only takes a few minutes to read this vital information, but it can save precious time in an emergency. We appreciate your continued business and look forward to serving you.

Kind regards,

Planning ahead for long-term care is important because there is a good chance you will need some long-term care services if you live beyond the age of 65. About 70 percent of people over age 65 require some services, and the likelihood of needing care increases as you age.

Planning ahead is also important because the cost of long-term care services often exceeds what the average person can pay from income and other resources. By planning ahead, you may be able to save your assets and income for uses other than long-term care, including preserving the quality of life for your spouse or other loved ones. With planning, there is a greater likelihood of being able to leave an estate to your heirs, because you are less likely to use up your financial resources paying for care.

Additionally, for many people, one of the most important advantages of planning ahead is to ensure greater independence should you need care. Your choices for receiving care outside of a facility and being able to stay at home or receive services in the community for as long as possible are greater if you have planned ahead.

© Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. This content is strictly for informational purposes and although experts have prepared it, the reader should not substitute this information for professional insurance advice. If you have any questions, please consult your insurance professional before acting on any information presented. Read more.

Because of old age, mental or physical illness, or injury, some people find themselves in need of help with eating, bathing, dressing, going to the toilet or continence, and/or transferring (e.g., getting out of a chair or out of bed). These six actions are called Activities of Daily Living-sometimes referred to as ADL’s. In general, if you can’t do two or more of these activities, or if you have a cognitive impairment, you are said to need “long-term care.”

Many people think that long-term care is provided exclusively in a nursing home. It can be, but it can also be provided in an adult day care center, an assisted living facility, or at home.

A long-term care policy helps to defray the costs of providing care in the above circumstances. Statistics show that a vast majority of people use long-term care services at some point in their lives and the cost of such services can be very draining.  Policy costs vary based upon the amount of “daily benefit” (how much the policy will pay out per day), how long the policy will pay for long-term care, (1 year, 2 years, unlimited, etc.), the age and health of the applicant at the time of policy procurement.

We work with the best carriers in the industry to provide you with the opportunity to acquire long-term care policies, either through your business or on an individual basis.

© Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. This content is strictly for informational purposes and although experts have prepared it, the reader should not substitute this information for professional insurance advice. If you have any questions, please consult your insurance professional before acting on any information presented. Read more.

Long-term care (LTC) insurance pays for services to help individuals who are unable to perform certain activities of daily living without assistance or who require supervision due to a cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 70 percent of individuals over age 65 will require at least some type of LTC services. There were 46.2 million people age 65 and older in 2014, accounting for 14.5 percent of the U.S. population, or about one in every seven Americans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2030 the Census Bureau projects there will be about 74.1 million older people and about 88.0 million in 2050.

About 4.8 million people were covered by LTC insurance in 2014, according to LIMRA. In 2015 the average premium for a 55-year-old male ranged from $1,066 to $2,075, according to the 2015-2016 Long-Term Care Sourcebook published by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. For a 55-year-old woman, the premium ranged from $1,400 to $2,411. Based on 2014 buyers, 38.6 percent of new LTC insurance policies were purchased by individuals under the age of 55, and 91.9 percent of buyers were under the age of 65, according to the study. The age of new buyers has been dropping slowly. A decade or so ago the age of the average buyer was between 66 and 67 years old, whereas now the average application age for coverage is 56 years old.

THE AGING U.S. POPULATION

The dependency ratio, or the number of people 65 and older to every 100 people of traditional working ages, is projected to climb rapidly from 22 in 2010 to 35 in 2030, according to the U.S. Census. The expected steep rise in the ratio over the next two decades reflects the projected proportion of people 65 and older climbing from 13 percent to 19 percent of the total population over the period, with the percentage in the 20 to 64 age range falling from 60 percent to 55 percent.

Source: Insurance Information Institute, “Long-Term Care Insurance” http://www.iii.org website. Accessed November 30, 2015. http://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/long-term-care-insurance

© Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. This content is strictly for informational purposes and although experts have prepared it, the reader should not substitute this information for professional insurance advice. If you have any questions, please consult your insurance professional before acting on any information presented. Read more.