Today I am here to discuss the cost of an average day in your life.  When you tally all of your expenditures and arrive at a cost of living per day, you have a sense of what you need to earn in a year to stay flush with your living expenses?

What if you have an accident or develop an illness or disease? What does your total expenditure look like in a day then? Well, according to Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the average rate for a private room in a nursing home was $181 (or $66,000) per year in 2003. That means if we project nursing home costs according to past rates of increase, we’re looking at approximately $480 a day, or over $175,000 in annual living expenses by the year 2021. That’s just about the time many of us Baby Boomers and our spouses will be taxing the current system which appears ill-equipped for the mass nursing home arrivals we’ll present.

We all know how fast a year goes by and how hard it is to keep up with rising costs.  We especially know given current economic conditions how drastically life can swallow up our financial security and independence. What will you do if your life turns on a dime? What kind of care can you afford? Will the place you can afford keep your dignity and independence in check? Will it be comfortable, clean, and accommodating, while addressing your psychological, medical, or mobility needs or will you wind up in a dump that barely passes state standards?

It sounds harsh, but a lot of people still face what amounts to neglectful, shoddy, and sporadic care with underpaid and overworked staffers in crowded facilities. I don’t want the remainder of my life to be carried out like a bad prison sentence, which is why I buy into the notion of protecting myself and why I have educated myself on exactly where relying on our state and federal government will put me. If you are wondering, it begins with “poor” and doesn’t end in my house.

I want to live out my life with dignity. I want to safeguard my home from being converted into cash to pay for my care as I age. I worked hard for it and it belongs to my husband and kids as much as it does me.

What are you willing to put on the line?

What is your long-term plan to care for yourself and your spouse?

Every year at this time I evaluate my contracts and providers. Many are up for renewal and I always like to see if the competition offers a better value or deal than a plan I am currently on. With choices in every aspect of my life from auto, health, life, and property insurance to my cellular, cable, electric, and Internet providers, I enjoy the healthy competition that takes place to the consumer’s benefit.

But shopping the competition can be a lot of work. Whom do you trust and how do you qualify your service providers? Do you select companies who are accessible or have representatives in your community? Do you go with the providers your friends and family use?

And do you have certain expectations from the people who represent a product or service? For instance, do you expect your cellular phone representative to be on the very plan he’s selling? Do you expect your doctor to practice the healthy habits she’s trying to drill into you? Do you expect your Honda dealer to drive a Honda? It is interesting how many parodies take place between service people and the products, services, or advice they represent.  I am a firm believer in practicing what I preach and I choose to work with other service providers who also “put their money where their mouth is.”

That said, I am not an advocate for long-term care insurance in general; in fact, there are many pitfalls in most policies being offered today. I do, however, believe in the power and strength of the company I have not only aligned myself with for my own personal coverage, but advocate for professionally as well. I use their plan myself because it has the most comprehensive coverage, wonderful customer service, and long-standing track record out there.

According to Consumer Reports, which studied 47 long-term insurance policies, “many policies can be risky or expensive and are not worth the investment.” Many long-term insurance companies have a weak balance sheet or do not show the strength in service, commitment, and track record we do. It is important to have an agent you can trust to assess your situation and align you with a reputable company. Start with someone who has afforded herself the best in long-term care insurance, after shopping the competition, like myself.

Let’s talk about what makes this long-term care insurance different and better than the other choices out there. I’ve already compiled all of the research for you. What plan do you currently use or have you already looked into? I look forward to hearing from you!

Do you have a running balance sheet of all of your assets and liabilities? I’d like to have you consider what systems you currently have in place for your long-term health needs and what that long-term picture looks like.

Let’s say you had a stroke. Right now. Because illness is neither convenient nor planned, if you had to stop everything at this moment and take inventory, what would your future care and recovery look like?
This little exercise is designed to help you take an inventory of your potential living conditions. What does your current health care cover? Initial hospital visits, testing, therapy, rehabilitation and recovery? What about a short or long-term nursing facility? How about in-home assistance during your recovery? What if you don’t ever fully recover, who takes care of your ongoing assistance?

Go ahead and make a list with all of your sources for help. Health insurance. Medicare or Medicaid (who’s coverage is severely restricted by the way). Savings. Retirement funds, stocks, equity in your home.

How much medical, rehabilitative, and basic care can you tap and for how long? How much of your physical upkeep do you expect your immediate and extended family to be emotionally and physically responsible for?

When judging your current coverage, consider these points taken from page 8 of the “Guide for Buying Long-Term Care Insurance in Georgia” publication, commissioned by our own state government to warn and protect Georgia’s citizens.

Consider:
The levels of nursing care covered
The duration of coverage for each level of care
The amount paid per day for each level of care
The length of the elimination period
Home health benefits [that are or are not] covered
When benefits begin
Policy exclusions and limitations
The cost of the Policy
Services provided by the insurance agent

Whew! Sounds like a lot to think about, doesn’t it? But take it from someone who sees it every day, a little planning today will save your family relief, heartache, and money in the future. What does your future look like? If you are uncertain or would like some help figuring it out, please contact me for a free consultation and valuable worksheets that will help you take control of your future, and not let it take ahold of you!

I haven’t seen Aunt Judy since this time last year and when we caught up this week she told me she has finally decided to protect her future with Long-Term Care Insurance. The sad news is that she is too late with her decision. The medical issues she’d experienced over this past year that prompted her to change her mind and see the value in Long-Term Care Insurance also disqualified her from being accepted into any reputable programs. She’s a bit stuck, and it was a sad revelation as my family and I caught a real glimpse of her medical future given the rough year she’d just experienced.

Needless to say, talk turned to who was going to pony up and take responsibility for Aunt Judy as her health continued to decline. Everyone’s financial situations were tight and their time was stretched thin with jobs and immediate family. It seemed that even after we pooled our time and resources, there wasn’t enough to help her live comfortably.

I am a bit ashamed to experience this in my own family. After all, I am a strong advocate for Long-Term Care Insurance! But the truth is, I can’t penetrate life-long stubborn behaviors and attitudes. It really does take something drastic to change people’s minds from abstract thinking to reality. The good news is it was a real eye-opener for other members of my family. With times tight, my family is rethinking gift-giving and turning their attention to the gift of a safe, happy and healthy future for one another. We’ve agreed to minimize the materialistic aspects of the holidays and focus more on family and future. We are buying the kids one gift and then putting the rest toward savings bonds for the future. The adults are chipping in to kick-start the middle-aged set into retirement funds and Long-Term Care Insurance instead of the latest kitchen mixer with six settings and a fancy bowl light.

It may not be a trunk-load of presents, but is will surely be a holiday we remember fondly. This is our turning point from credit card debt for over-sensationalized toys and gadgets, to investing in a happy future and removing burdens from other family members. It’s certainly the best gift I can think of. How about you? What are you doing differently this holiday season? Look around this holiday—what safeguards are in place to care for the members of your family?

Throughout our life cycle it is natural for us to want things to remain the same. Aging, losing loved ones, and feeling like we are losing relevance to a younger generation are all commonplace. It’s difficult for me as an advocate for Long-Term Care Insurance to help people come to terms with this aging and change.

Some of the most common objections I hear echo the sentiment “it won’t happen to me.” I think the world has proven over that cancer does not discriminate, automobile accidents don’t only happen far away from us, and hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding can strike us at any time, whether we feel we live in a “nice, safe place,” and “take care of ourselves” or not.

The idea behind insurance is to help people take a proactive stance against what is in all likelihood inevitable at some point or another. I don’t know anyone who has been free from adversity their whole life. It is not so much a matter of “if” as “when and which” trying experiences we’ll encounter in our lifetimes. Instead of letting life happen to us and ending up a victim of circumstance with no viable options, you can take a proactive stance to safeguard yourself and your future.

Just ask anyone who has been blind-sided by a health problem or injury how much the “system” is there for them, and likewise, how much well-meaning family members are able to do for them before the rippling effects of the hardship begin to take a toll on their relationships.

Are you in a position to care for your spouse around the clock? Do you want to receive inadequate or substandard care from the tidbits you can get out of the system? If you want to live out the rest of your life with the integrity and dignity in which you’ve lived it thus far, what do you need to do today to ensure that happens? I’m Charlene Roberts, and I have seen the future for those with and without protection. Would you care to visit a day in the life of your future to see the quality of life you’ll have without putting safeguards in place today? Where will you be? What kind of care will you receive? Substandard or exceptional? A lot of those decisions lie in your hands today before you are boxed in a corner with little choice left.

What are you doing to safeguard your future?

Most Americans have misconceptions about the U.S. government’s provisions–misconceptions that will turn out to be detrimental to their lifestyle when they find themselves in a situation where they turn to the government for assistance and hit a brick wall.

Did you know that whether or not Social Security will be available for you when you reach “age” is irrelevant in situations involving the care of your aging or ill body? That Social Security is not related to long-term care in any way? The same is true for Medicare! Most of us only have a cursory knowledge of those systems, and a lot of misconceptions about their functions. A lot of readers are probably thinking about “Medicaid” at this point, but that is truly a welfare program designed for people who have fully exhausted their life savings and are defined as “poor.”

Is that where you worked hard your whole life to end up? At that point, you would actually become a ward of the state and have no input as to what type of care you receive or where you receive it.

I know, all our lives we hear people trying to prepare us for the future. In high school, teachers prepare us for college. In college, professors prepare us for the real world. Well now in the real world our elders are telling us to beware of what’s ahead, that we need to become prepared to take care of ourselves comfortably in our golden years because it’s likely no one else is going to.

Do you know exactly where you stand? Are you sure you are protected? It’s okay to ask the questions! We insurance experts are here to help you take a pro-active look at exactly what kind of protection you have and compare it to what you need. We’ll tell you if you are over-insured, under-insured, or if you are paying for a policy that is simply not written to meet your situational needs.

What questions can I help answer for you?

See you next time on Chaz Sayz!

I know it’s been heavy on my heart. I am worried about my friends and co-workers who do not have an aging plan in place. I developed this blog as a forum to help you navigate through the personally beneficial decisions you can make to safeguard your future health, care and happiness.

Let me ask you a question: Do you see a lot of nursing care facilities being built in your town? Likely not. Because if you look closely at the new facilities, they are “assisted living” homes. These homes are privately owned, and the current price for a one-month stay in the Southern region of the country is anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 depending on what services you can afford. These facilities will accept you as a resident only if you can afford their rates and you are able to take care of yourself to a certain degree. That is why they are called “assisted.” They do not accept Medicare or Medicaid money or people who cannot walk.

The other places that have been around a while are usually “nursing homes.” They will accept anyone, and they generally depend on money from Uncle Sam to keep their doors open.

Think about it. Where will you spend your final time in this world? Perhaps you owe it to yourself to visit an assisted living home and a nursing home. Sometimes smelling is believing.

And where do you think that will leave baby boomers when our health begins to decline and we have even fewer choices than are available today? We are going to bust those seams wide open and tax a system that can’t handle the sheer volume we are about to present.

Ah, but with the loss in current home values, stocks, and long term savings plans, we have the government, or Medicaid to fall back on, right?

Absolutely. Absolutely, if you are poor. Absolutely, if you want someone to seize control of your assets, leave you with only certain (paltry!) levels of savings and property. Absolutely, if you want to drain everything you’ve ever worked for and succumb to potentially sub-standard care in an overburdened system. That’s why our own government has put out educational literature on the topic. (We’ll go into more detail about that in an upcoming blog.)

But it won’t happen to you, right? You’re never going to need long term care, your kids will take care of you, you’ve led a good life and what goes around will surely come around, right?

One can hope. Or, one can look into a long term care insurance policy, that “other health insurance policy” that is mandatory to a secure the future.

But, you have to meet eligibility in order to enroll, and you can’t do that when you’re sick or already on the decline. The strongest surge in this market is actually healthy 40 to 65 year olds ready to take the reigns and secure their futures and their family’s well-being. I’m here to educate you about our future and the safeguards such as these that are available to us.

Thank you for welcoming me in. I look forward to your questions and engaging you in an informative dialogue about your aging plan. What questions can I help answer for you?

See you next time on Chaz Sayz!

In speaking with my clients about Long Term Care Insurance (LTC), these are just a sample of the many responses I hear. With the exception of the last comment regarding Government, the other comments are born of emotion, a person’s preconceived notions about oneself, mis-information and most frightening, self denial. Thus today I’d like to address the response about our Government’s part in providing long term care, or there lack of, since it is the statement we can speak by fact.

Do you know that Social Security has absolutely nothing to do with long term care? The primary function and purpose of Social Security is to pay you a retirement check in return for all of the years that both you and your employers paid Social Security taxes into the system. What about Medicare, you ask? Medicare does pay for care, but only short-term care. Please pay attention here…. only up to approximately three months and that is only if you continue to meet a number of requirements that most people don’t. This barely sounds like short-term care. But that is what it is. Medicare does not provide long-term care either.

According to surveys conducted by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) beginning in 1990 and conducted every five years thereafter, I’d like to highlight two of their more recent findings:

• While individuals who forgo purchase of an LTC policy continue to cite cost as the most significant barrier to purchase, they also cite lack of understanding about the need
for LTC, confusion about what the government covers, and lack of knowledge about LTC companies and products.

• While people continue to purchase LTC insurance for multiple reasons, in 2005, the single most important reason for purchase was to protect assets. This is consistent with the observation that, as younger buyers purchase policies, they view LTC protection as part of a broader retirement planning process.

I look forward to addressing in my next blogs the two types of long term care policies and how they relate to U.S. Income Tax. I will also weigh in on some of the other responses I mentioned earlier that I hear from clients and the general public. By knowledge sharing and gathering, together we can put together a plan that gives you peace of mind about care and asset protection for you, your future and your families’.