Three thousand a month is about right for private nursing home care--or was. Some of the upscale places can cost even more. If you can afford the insurance--it makes good sense--if not you may want to consider other alternatives. A family member, in Louisiana, now deceased, gave away his property--everything--to the kids and retained usufruct until his death. That solved part of the problem of worrying about nursing home expense to the extent of his possibly losing the results of a lifetime of work--if leaving it to your heirs is what you want to do. I believe at the time that the exclusion period was six months, i.o.w. the property had to have been out of his ownership for at least six months or they could go back and reclaim it. That period of time may have changed. Only a good lawyer is going to know for certain. Cash is a different ballgame altogether. Single premium life insurance policies can sometimes provide a means of transferring any cash that isn't deemed necessary to maintain a lifestyle--if leaving it to your heirs is what you want to do. If there's a sizeable amount of cash involved then you can use this as leverage to insure that those gaining the real property "behave" since the beneficiary can be changed up until practically the moment of death. Talk to a financial planner (a CPA with experience in the field) and a lawyer.

It is likely that those that get it through their spouse would no longer be eligible to do so if they were offered insurance through their employment all depends on that insurers rules. Have you checked what the premiums would be? It has been a long time since I did this, but for my exes business we offered the employees full insurance and the cost was actually less than $2400/year per employee. I guess costs have gone up a lot in the last 12 years. It was an HMO, but it was really good coverage and no referrals needed. I think in this case you don't really have much of a choice as to being able to make all employees happy. I don't think you can. In larger companies the choice is get the insurance or not - there is no other option. Guess you can only look at what the other options are for them as to if they went somewhere else what would they get. Maybe looking at what are the employees options elsewhere if they were to switch jobs would help you see if you need to offer something else or not.

Regardless of age and health issues she is paying entirely too much. Go to an insurance agent that sells Medicare Supplements and Medicare Part D (prescription drugs). The Insurance company cannot refuse to enroll her the first time for any reason. Also, check with an agent for dental coverage. I am 69 and pay about $30 per month with Aetna for dental and $120 (Plan G) for the Medicare Supplement that pays the balance after Conventional Medicare Part A and B (80%). Depending on age the Medicare Supplement, Plan F that pays all claim amounts (if Medicare pays for the procedure) with no copay or deductible should cost about $100 per month. Likely, you will find that aetna currently has the lowest price. Regardless of the company, all providers in her state must offer identical coverage with the premium being the only variable. Plan G will even be a lower price than Plan F with the only difference being she will pay an annual Medicare deductible for 2013 of $147. Medicare part D pricing will vary but Medicare has an excellent website where you can enter the drugs taken and you will find the out of pocket pricing. I now pay about $30 per month with First Health and pay nothing for Tier 1 generic drugs. I have changed providers now 3 times due to lower prices offered by another provider. I shop every year! The Part D prescription various amounts depending on the provider and plan chosen. In general, it covers about 40% of drug costs unless it is a tier 1 generic drug. Be careful that you do the research because one can be screwed. So, with the Medicare Supplement, Medicare Part D and dental insurance, the monthly cost should be about $160. Keep in mind that she can pay much more if she falls in love with an insurance company as she already has. She is likely paying a 3% administrative fee to her past employer for Cobra. Cobra should only be a temporary alternative until one is 65 and qualifies for Medicare.

I moved my response to the x-post in Kitchen table.