Long Term Care Alternatives   
Long Term Care- Glossary   

What is Long Term Care?

Long Term Care is the care you may need if you or someone in your family can no longer perform everyday tasks to take care of yourself. For example, there may come a time when you need help with activities of daily living: bathing, continence, dressing, eating, toileting and transferring. It also includes the kind of care you would need if you had a severe cognitive impairment like Alzheimer's disease.

What is Long Term Care Insurance?

Insurance is an important tool for protecting yourself against risk. For instance, health insurance pays your doctor and hospital bills if you get sick or injured. But how can you help protect yourself against the significant financial risk posed by the potential need for long-term care services?

Long Term Care Insurance can go beyond medical care and nursing care to include all the assistance you could need if you ever have a chronic illness or disability that leaves you unable to care for yourself for an extended period of time. You can receive long term care in a nursing home, assisted-living facility, or in your own home. Though older people use the most long-term care services, a young or middle-aged person who has been in an accident or suffered a debilitating illness might also need Long Term Care.

Beyond nursing homes, there is a range of services available in the community to help meet long-term

care needs. Visiting nurses, home health aides, friendly visitor programs, home delivered meals, chore services, adult daycare centers, and respite services for caregivers who need a break from daily responsibilities can supplement care given by family members.

Something New Has Been Added

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 allows the introduction of the Arizona Partnership.

Today, 52% of Medicaid's budget goes to pay Long Term Care expense but serves only 7% of Medicaid's recipients. Seven percent spend 52% of the budget! Medicaid Long Term Care expense currently runs over $200 billion annually. And, the baby boomers are coming!

So what exactly is this Partnership? It is an agreement between consumers, states' Medicaid departments and insurers. It involves the purchase of private Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI) in return for extra protection in qualifying for Medicaid if insurance benefits are exhausted.

Here is how it works. An individual purchases a LTCI Partnership policy with a benefit amount of $250K to be used for Long Term Care. If the entire $250K is exhausted for care and the individual applies for Medicaid assistance, rather than having to spend down assets to $2000, the individual could protect $250K in assets from spend down requirements and keep $252,000 in assets. Without a partnership policy, the assets would have to be spent down, gifted or transferred to an irrevocable trust.

We have the necessary education and training mandated by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and the State of Arizona to provide Partnership Long Term Care Insurance.

It Can Happen at Any Age

Many people do not realize that the need for long-term care can strike at any time. Statistics show that 40% of people receiving Long Term Care services are working age adults, between the ages of 18 and 64¹. Would you be prepared for long-term care, if you suddenly required it? Where is the money going to come from?

You should CONSIDER buying long-term care insurance if: You have assets and income you want to protect, you want to avoid being financially dependent on others, you want to maintain choice on how and where to receive care.

For pennies on the dollar, would you want to pass the cost to someone else?

You should NOT buy long-term care insurance if: You cannot afford the premiums, you have minimal assets and may qualify for Medicaid, the Federal/State health care program for those who meet their State's poverty guidelines, your only source of income is a Social Security benefit or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Long Term Care services are becoming more widely available. Some or all of them may be found in your community. If you need this type of help now, your local Area Agency on Aging or Office on Aging can help you locate the services you need. Call the Eldercare Locator at 800-677-1116 to identify your local office.

¹ “Where does the Population Live and Who Cares for Them? LTC: Diverse, Growing Population    Includes Millions of Americans of All Ages,” U.S. General Accounting Office 1/01. 

Please contact us for more information regarding Long Term Care.