In a recent article in USA Today, Rob Lowe revealed that several years ago, he and his siblings cared for his mother with stage four breast cancer. Although he mentioned several things that are important, there were two points that he made that I wanted to highlight, and a third, more subtle point that he mentioned that people don’t think about. We will address these in the next three blog posts.
First, he mentioned that more and more Americans would rather age in place than go into a nursing home. That is certainly what I have seen as an elder law attorney. Let’s face it, no one wants to go into a nursing home, but if you have not done any planning that is often what happens. Most people do not have enough money to privately pay for care. In the North Texas area, you are looking at $60,000 – $72,000 per year for care in a nursing home. And if they do have enough for one spouse, they often run out of money when the second spouse needs care. The cost of care at home is much, much higher, even if you are getting the care for “free” from a family member.
That is why I so strongly believe in long term care insurance. Traditional long term care insurance was a “use it or lose it” proposition, where if you never needed care, then you gambled and lost. On top of that, people felt it was too expensive. Now, there are more options available that allow you to pass assets to your beneficiaries if you do not need long term care. There are also options that allow you to put a lump sum of money aside to pay for care so you don’t necessarily have to pay a continuing premium. Long term care insurance is the best way I know to prepare for upcoming long term care needs.
If you would like to take a look at long term care insurance, and don’t know where to turn, give us a call at 214-292-4225 and we’ll point you in the right direction.