Southern Senior Care Blog

Every year ushers in new medical advances. That’s great news. Thanks to scientists and researchers, we can heal more diseases today than ever before. Surgeons can correct more problems with the human body than many people ever thought possible. And with more money than ever going into medical research, there is no reason to believe that this trend will slow down any time soon.

So what’s the problem?

How are we going to pay for all of the other living expenses we will incure throughout the extra 10, 20 or 30 years that we live? The issue is not just that of money. A very large number of Baby Boomers, millions in fact, will still be blowing out birthday candles after their children have retired. Whereas many seniors throughout the years have been able to count on their children for assistance, that simply won’t be an option for everyone as we go forward. Depending on their health, children of Baby Boomers (boomers themselve) simply won’t be physically capable of providing Long Term Care to their parents.

This means that more people than ever before will require the services of a Nursing Home, Home Health Care, or Assisted Living facility. Now here’s the big news flash for some. After the first one hundred days (about three months) in a Nursing Home, Medicare doesn’t pay for anything else. And since Medicare stops paying, so does your Medicare Supplement Insurance. The only class of insurance that pays for these Long Term services is Long Term Care Insurance.

Long Term Care insurance is very flexible these days. You can get a Long Term Care insurance plan that will pay for someone to come to your home and assist with most of healthcare related activities. Or you could choose to move into an assisted living facility or nursing home and use the Long Term Care funds there. The bottom line is that if you have not looked into Long Term Care insurance, you need to. And you need to do it sooner rather than later.

This is one type of insurance that you need to get long before you need it. If you wait until you’ve had a few health problems and you are taking 5-6 prescriptions, you may not be able to get it. And if you can, you will be looking at some very expensive premiums. Even if the premiums are shockingly high, you are probably still better off getting it if you can. Just run the numbers. A nursing home will run you about $5,000 / month. If you pay into a Long Term Care plan for 20 years and then go into a Nursing Home, you will get almost all of your premiums back in less than six months.

Is there any other alternative to Long Term Care? Yes. It’s called ”Medicaid.” And you are probably not going to like that blog very much…