Consumers make the right policy purchasing decisions when they understand the coverage.
Misunderstandings regarding long term care insurance are widespread and growing and are currently causing consumers to make choices that aren’t in their best interest in terms of the financial protection needs of themselves and their families.
The biggest mistake made is that people wait too long to purchase their coverage.
The best time to look into purchasing long term care insurance is before a physical or mental condition has been diagnosed, which will lead you to require assistance in accomplishing your daily activities such as eating, bathing, dressing, and grooming yourself. These are the services that the coverage provides, but it is best purchased before critical illness or disability occurs in your life.
Additional common misconceptions about long term care insurance include the following:
• Misconception: It is unnecessary as long as you have a medical plan. Unfortunately health coverage only protects against the costs associated directly with an illness or injury, as well as prescriptions and doctor and hospital visits. Even the most comprehensive plans do not provide coverage for daily activities. This is the purpose of long term care insurance.
• Misconception: It is the same thing as disability coverage. Though disability protection can kick in at the same time as LTC benefits, it compensates only the income that would be missed as a result of illness or injury. Long term care insurance covers assisted living, home care, or nursing home expenses.
• Misconception: Only facility fees are covered. These policies provide the policyholders with the choice as to where they would like to receive their care. They can choose from a number of different types of facilities, such as a nursing home, assisted living complex, or hospice, but they can also choose to benefit from adult day care centers or even home healthcare. Currently, 70 percent of LTC policy recipients still reside in their homes or those of friends or family.
By clearing up these, and other misconceptions about long term care insurance, such as the belief that it is not required until you are older, consumers will begin to reduce the trend toward a failure to purchase coverage when it could provide critical financial protection to them and their families.