Everything You Need to Know About Long-Term Care Insurance from a Silicon Valley Elder Law Attorney

The cost of long-term care is one of the most common dangers to the life savings of senior citizens. The fear of losing assets, possessions, and homes drives people to search out ways to protect themselves from the enormous costs associated with long-term care.

Many seniors turn to long-term care insurance, which is supposed to cover them through expensive medical episodes and pay for life in an assisted living or nursing home. However, there is a lot that seniors need to know before buying long-term care insurance and deciding on the best plan for their individual situation. Elder law attorneys in Silicon Valley have laid out some of the issues seniors should be aware of when thinking about long-term care insurance.

One thing seniors should know when making decisions about long-term care is the average amount of time for stays in nursing homes. Typically, most seniors will not stay in a nursing home any longer than 6 months if at all. Unfortunately, many long-term care insurance policies lapse before the beneficiary ever makes it into a nursing home and if benefits are paid to the nursing home through the insurance policy, they’re usually much less than the actual cost of care. As an investment in your well-being, long-term care insurance may not hold up.

In some cases though, long-term care insurance may be a good decision if you look at it in terms of a safety net rather than a be-all, end-all to paying for long-term care. Most experts, including Silicon Valley elder law attorneys, agree that long-term care insurance is a worthwhile investment only if the premiums amount to less than 5% of your monthly income keeping in mind that your income will drop as you age while the premiums will rise. In addition, it is advised that you do not even consider long-term care insurance that does not cover assisted living facilities. It is far more likely that you will stay in an assisted living facility for a greater amount of time than you would stay in a skilled nursing facility.

Once again, with all of this in mind, your individual situation is what will truly determine whether or not long-term care insurance is a sound investment for you. A Silicon Valley elder law attorney can meet with you to determine your situation and plan out your future needs in order to advise you better when you’re making a decision regarding long-term care insurance.

If you have any questions about long-term care insurance, or if you’d like to have your long-term care insurance policy reviewed to make sure it’s the correct one for your situation, please call our Silicon Valley elder law firm at (650) 422-3313 to schedule a consultation.