How Long Term Care Insurance Policies work

Long term care often arises because elderly people can no longer manage a number of daily living activities without help and it is envisaged this will occur for their lifetime. It comprises of support with daily living activities like washing, dressing or walking and can be provided in the person's house, in a residential home or nursing home.

Quite often a stroke or heart attack happens out of the blue, resulting in the need for immediate long term care. Other symptoms such as Alzheimer's disease can develop more slowly requiring increasing levels of care.

How does a long term care insurance policy work? Basically this is a lump sum insurance plan that guarantees a regular payment to help pay for life time care. The purchase price is progressively cheaper relative to adverse health and older age unlike life insurance which is progressively less costly due to younger age and better health.

The way a long term care insurance works is that those who die too soon effectively pay for those who live longer. One insurance company guarantees a full refund if the person dies within the first 30 days and this progressively reduces over the first six months to zero death benefit. it is possible to buy extended protection against dying in the short term, but the protection is very limited and costly.

Long term care insurance plan premiums are calculated based on the individual's life expectancy. this is forecast by reference to medical information provided by the person's family doctor. Also insurance companies endeavour to speak to care home staff for an up to date hands on assessment. The cost of a care plan is less relative to correspondingly deteriorating health and frailty.

The lump sum premium is calculated by taking the shortfall between the income coming in and the cost of the care fees going out. The resulting shortfall can be accommodated by payment of a single premium to an insurance company. Automatic indexation or escalation of benefits can be included to cover annual care fee increases.

If a care provider will agree to keep their annual care fee increases to say five percent each year, the long term care insurance plan can be structured to match this rate for the rest of the persons life.

Obviously, if the care costs rise above the level of insurance payments, there could be a further shortfall. But to all intents and purposes, this is usually manageable from other savings, unless the level of care required has altered drastically. In this case, a further review of the situation should be done before parting with more funds. For example, the care needs may have escalated to the point of the person becoming eligible for free personal care known as continuing care.

Long term care plans have a significant tax saving benefit. This is because there is no tax liability on the person in care when benefits are payable direct to a registered care provider.

before to start planning for long term care fees make sure to access Barbara Davies's vital free report concerning long term care insurance plans .