Elderly mother cancelled her long-term care policy
jewelisfabulous
9 years ago
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duvetcover
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoElmer J Fudd
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Does anyone have long term care insurance?
Comments (8)I got it a couple years ago - I'm 54 now. It was offered through Prudential with an open enrollment through my employer. Employer does not pay for it but I took advantage of the open enrollment as I don't know that I'd qualify otherwise. It's a decent plan though not over the top - currently about $900 per year. Both DH and I did a lot to help our parents in their later years and since we have no kids there will be none of that if we live to be old. We'll be paying for help. DH's mother was in a nursing home for 11 years after suffering several mini strokes and his grandmother was in for 20 years after suffering a massive stroke. My grandmother was also in for many years. I hope I never end up there but if I do I'd like to somehow be able to pay for it myself and not end up being covered by taxpayers. My FIL paid for MIL - had LTC insurance for the first few years then self funded. I admired their ability to do that and would hope to be able to do the same....See MoreLong-Term Care Insurance
Comments (18)I looked into it for my parents twice, but the first time my mother's financial advisor convinced her that it was not worth the money, and because of that she didn't take me seriously the second time. The second time I looked into a program open to federal employees and their relatives, and it looked like the coverage was good (but the premium for my mom would have been $400 a month). Premiums increased substantially with age, so I suspect the key is figuring out a good age at which to sign up (not so young that you're paying premiums for such a long time that it cancels out the benefit, but not so old that premiums are beyond reach). I wish that my mom hadn't listened to her financial advisor, and that she'd been open to a LTC policy, because I know that I am the one who would end up filing the financial gap if one or both of them needed long term care at a level and length of time that would deplete their savings and investments. For the peace of mind, it would have been worth the high premiums, which I offered to pay myself. At her current age, 69, I doubt she'd qualify for anything that we could afford, and my dad wouldn't qualify at all because he has cancer. A LTC policy for my parents would ease my mind because I know how illnesses that require full time care over a long time period can eviscerate savings. My grandfather had alzheimers for 15 years, and spent the last 10 of them in an assisted living facility. My grandmother kept him at home as long as possible (longer than made sense, to be perfectly frank), but the reality is, given his strength, his diminished mental capacity, and later health complications, he needed the kind of care that only a LTC facility or a full time live-in nurse could provide. This was in the 80s and 90s but it cost thousands a month. Despite being hardworking, a saver, living a frugal lifestyle (to the point of growing their own produce in the summer and freezing and canning it for winter), and having a pension, paying for care for that many years took all of my grandmother's retirement savings. So once the money, inevitably, ran out, they had to go on medicaid and my mom helped with living expenses. I am very worried about facing a similar situation with my parents, particularly since costs are higher now, and I live in an area with an extremely high cost of living. Just think about stories you read about people who have a major illness with medical costs that cause bankruptcy, then multiply that financial impact across multiple years. Planning for an emergency, or even setting aside money for a comfortable retirement, is not going to cover full time care for years. As I understand the costs, it would be like sending a child to an elite private college --- and few people can afford that for more than 4 years even if they have been putting money aside since the child's infancy. Paying that annually, indefinitely, can make a mockery of even the best laid financial plans. The odds are that most people will not need that kind of care, but if you do the financial costs are devastating....See Morewhat do you know about long term care insurance
Comments (52)gibby -- There was a reduced-benefit clause in the LTC policies we took, too. I was wrong when I wrote that we took them 15 years ago. It was 20! Also, we had to pay in for TEN years, not TWO, to (possibly) get something back. We'd paid in $11,000 in premiums at the end of ten years. This was a group LTC policy from Hancock, offered to us by my DH's then-employer. After ten years we became eligible for reduced-amount benefits. Each policy will pay $45/day for *skilled nursing care*, to a lifetime max of $82,000. The verbiage on any other type of care is obscure with lots of hoops and mazes. Looking at it now, I think we will have aided tbe taxpayer -- seems to me these benefits would reduce the cost of our care to Medicare. If I'd had any doubts about problems collecting on the policies, they were sustained when it took me six months to get a letter from Hancock stating that each of us had actually qualified for this reduced-benefit coverage. We eventually received single-page letters, undated and without signatures, with a lot of 'may qualify' and 'could be' phrasing. Their legal department could send us packing without breaking a sweat. Our situation is different than yours as to probable need for the policy. I'm glad you'll take that opt-out clause. You might want to see a letter stating exactly what YOUR reduced benefits will be, specific to YOUR policy and YOUR premiums, before you sign up....See MoreOpinions on Long term care?
Comments (12)>>(from luvstocraft) So am I understanding correctly that the Living Trust can help protect some of our assets--but just a Will will not do that? >> I'm sorry that I didn't pay more careful attention to some of these questions, and hope it's not too late to get these answers to luv since like her, we live in CA. First off, Living Wills are not legal in CA. The document needed is called the Durable Healthcare power of attorney. All forms since 2009 should include the POLST questions (Physician's Order for Life Sustaining Treatment). Anyone with a DHPoA prior to 2009 should Google and download this 1-page form, fill it out and give a signed copy to your doctor or HMO, ASAP. Second, as pointed out, you need to be careful about which type of Financial Power of Attorney you want. Be especially thoughtful about who is the successor agent should you **and** your spouse become mentally incapable. Make sure that all your financial records are filed properly and are easy to access in an emergency. Now, to wills vs trusts: A will MUST go through probate. This has certain advantages: a will is public record, meaning it's a lot harder (although not impossible) to commit fraud. If you don't have a large estate, there is nothing wrong with using a will. There are two kinds of personal trusts (well, there's many different kinds, but you generally need to have substantial assets to make use of them): Revocable and Irrevocable. In a revocable living trust (RLT), you or whoever is named trustee/co-trustee, own those assets and manage the trust. You can change the terms however and whenever you please. An Irrevocable trust is just that - once set up and funded with assets, it cannot be changed. The trustee is just a manager of the assets. It can't be canceled if you change your mind or your situation changes. You no longer own any of the assets in the trust. It is a permanent legal entity unto itself, until all assets are exhausted. Any trust must be funded; e.g., you must take legal steps to transfer assets to the trust. Just setting up a trust does not mean anything is inside the trust. Trusts do not go through probate. They are a method of passing assets to heirs without the costs of probate. OTOH, speaking as one who served as Executor of a simple estate, I can tell you that even a simple estate or trust takes hours and hours to settle. It is neither easy, nor simple, and when a person is grieving it is extremely exhausting. An Executor of a will gets paid a fee (and in CA, believe me that fee is earned) - but a Trustee NEVER gets paid unless payment, hourly or flat fee or percentage, is specified in the Trust....even though a Trustee can spend just as much personal time, if not more, than any Executor does, on settling an estate. Revocable Living Trusts will NOT save on taxes. They are a conveyance, a means of passing assets more efficiently in certain situations. They do not “protect” anything because that is not their intent. The only thing it will save is the court costs of filing for probate, and the mandated fees to Executor and Attorney from the assessed value of the estate. For example, my MIL has an RLT. Realistically, there was never any need for she and her (now deceased) husband to have one. They have only one son, had only one house, and modest financial assets. It made the transfer of assets to her as the surviving Trustee simpler, but then we had to have a lawyer draw up yet another trust, this time with her and her son (DH) as co-trustees. Had they had a good will drawn up instead, we could have continued with that and spent less half the amount of money it cost, by having her update a will instead of creating a new trust. In comparison, DH and I have a trust. We have no children, and our estate falls under whatever the federal estate tax limit is or is going to be. But because we have no children, our heirs are not directly related to us - and both heirs have siblings who by law would have just as much right to any inheritance. Therefore, we had our trust drawn up with specific language that excludes anyone not named in the trust. We also arranged for the Trustee to be paid on an hourly basis for work done for the estate, because we believe that's fair. I did a little research on the so-called "Medicaid trusts". These are apparently encouraged by certain lawyers who claim they will protect assets from being seized by Medicaid. There is a debate about this subject, and some lawyers say there is no current legal decision that fully supports any trust as being 'untouchable' by Medicaid. Whether this is true or not, I have no idea. A Medicaid trust is Irrevocable - once set up, you have lost all assets you transfer over. It is NOT excused from the Medicaid 5-yr look-back on asset transfers. If Medicaid does decide your trust is a fraud designed to hide assets from them, you would need a lawyer to file suit. And of course, no one should ever set up any trust, Revocable or Irrevocable, without the advice of a lawyer. Even using good forms, such as those available from Nolo Press/Berkeley, can produce a document that does not address all the issues your estate may face...if only because there are things you don't know which may be issues in the future, that the questions of a professional might have avoided. If you use a good estate attorney, they often charge a flat fee for drawing up the RLT, both PoAs, a pour-over will (VERY important) and even transferring the title to your home into the trust. Our attorney spent hours with MIL and with us, both together and separately, to ensure she had a clear picture of what we wanted. Then it was her job to create documents which would enable our wishes to be carried out, when we're no longer able to be there. I apologize for going OT. But these are critical issues that all too many Boomers have left undone for too long. HTH!...See MoreSue_va
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoCA Kate z9
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