Do You Need Short Term Home Healthcare Insurance?

As we age, our chances of needing some form of long-term care increase. This could mean needing help with activities of daily living (ADLs) such as bathing, dressing, and eating, or needing more specialized care such as skilled nursing.

Long-term care can be expensive, and many people don't have the savings to cover the cost. This is where short-term home healthcare insurance can help.

Short-term home healthcare insurance* provides coverage for a limited period of time, typically up to one year. This type of insurance can help pay for in-home care, such as help with ADLs, as well as short stays in a nursing home.

There are many benefits to having short-term home healthcare insurance. Here are a few of the most important:

• It can help you stay in your own home. Many people prefer to age in place, and short-term home healthcare insurance can help make this possible. With this type of insurance, you can get the help you need to stay safe and independent in your own home.
• It can help you avoid out-of-pocket costs. Long-term care can be very expensive, and short-term home healthcare insurance can help you cover some of these costs. This can save you a significant amount of money, especially if you need care for a prolonged period of time.
• It can give you peace of mind. Knowing that you have short-term home healthcare insurance in place can give you peace of mind. If you do need care, you'll have the financial resources to get the help you need.

If you're considering short-term home healthcare insurance, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First, you'll need to make sure that you qualify for coverage. You'll typically need to be age 50 or older and have a good health history.

Second, you'll need to decide how much coverage you need. The amount of coverage you'll need will depend on your individual needs and circumstances.

Finally, you'll need to shop around for the best policy. There are many different short-term home healthcare insurance policies available, so it's important to compare rates and benefits before you buy.

If you're thinking about getting short-term home healthcare insurance, I encourage you to do your research and talk to an insurance agent. This type of insurance can provide peace of mind and financial security, and it could be the right choice for you.

Contact us about your options. If you have questions, you can schedule a short phone call with one of our agents.

*Plans are not available in all states.

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog!

What Is The Current State Of Long Term Care Part 3

In the previous posts we took a look at what Long Term Care (LTC) is as well as how those who suffer from chronic illnesses are cared for in various types of facilities. As explained, stays in nursing homes and assisted living facilities are not cheap. Statistically 2 out of every 5 people will need some sort of LTC services, and the cost of those services is steadily rising each year. 

We also discussed a couple of ways to shift the burden of the expenses to an insurance carrier, through either a traditional stand alone Long Term Care insurance (LTCI) policy or a life insurance policy with living benefits. Depending on one's financial situation, age and health conditions, one option may be preferred over the other.  However, there are still another way to help cover the costs of LTC services. 

Short Term Home Healthcare (STHHC) insurance is a great alternative for those who possibly can't afford the premiums of a LTCI policy. As most people would prefer to stay in their own homes instead of a facility, a STHHC is an obvious choice. Especially with Covid wreaking havoc in nursing and assisted living facilities. home healthcare is a better option. But there is a caveat. 

The costs of home healthcare are much higher than staying in a facility. This makes sense if one considers that one-on-one care will cost more compared to a facility where several staff members watch over dozens of people at once.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my father suffered from Parkinson's Disease and insisted on being in his own home. His in-home care company was charging him in excess of $75,000 each year! He barely had the funds from his pension and some rental incomes and fell short each month. To subsidize the shortfall he was dipping into his home equity line, which our family was unaware of until he passed away. 

A better way to pay for the cost of home healthcare is the purchase of a Short Term Home Healthcare insurance policy. The cost of one of these policies is not nearly as expensive as a traditional LTCI plan and the application process is very simple. However there are a few drawbacks. 

The policy only covers in home care and for a total of 365 days. Given that some people only receive in-home care services a few days of the week, the 365 days don't have to be consecutive. In other words, the policy can be used over several years potentially. 

The applicant for one of these policies must be 60 years old and the rates do go up every five years, so these are points that must be taken into consideration. However, I still recommend this coverage to our clients who are looking into LTCI. 

For a good explanation of the policy and how it works, you can watch a short video by clicking here. 

Trying to self-fund long term care expenses is difficult for the vast majority of Americans. There is a myth that the government will take care of us, but it's not true. With our life spans getting longer it doesn't mean that the quality of life is better as we age. Making sure that we don't burden our families as our health declines should be a priority for most people. 

As we plan for our retirement years we need to seriously take into consideration that our health will decline and there will be expenses to deal with. Let us help you with planning and if you have any questions let us know. In the meantime, please stay healthy!

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog!

Do I Have To Be In A Nursing Home Or Assisted Living?

In the last few weeks I have had some conversations with people who were considering Long Term Care (LTC) insurance. I always appreciate folks who are looking into this coverage because I consider them to be forward thinkers. In our current environment of YOLO (you only live once), the "live for today" mantra can make it hard for those of us who help plan for future issues. Those who think that "we can go at any minute so we should enjoy today" aren't looking at the future and tend to miss the forest for the trees.

People who usually take on the YOLO mantel seem to be those who have either suffered an unexpected loss or those who have seen or heard about such a loss. "I could drop dead like my mother at any minute," is their refrain. The fact that the rest of the family has survived to their 90's is irrelevant to them.  

The paradox happens when I say, "You are correct. You could die in the next week." Then I ask, "If you knew you were going to die tomorrow how much life insurance would you buy today?" You see, the "future is unknown" argument can go both ways to a decent insurance agent.

As for the forward thinkers, they seem to get the bigger picture. These people are aware of their surroundings from a 80,000 foot view. An anecdotal story about a life cut short doesn't keep them from understanding that statistically they will live to old age, and sickness and poor health may be a factor. That's when those people plan for LTC.

But the forward thinkers are asking a question now that I haven't heard as much before. "How do I stay out of a facility?" Previously, when I spoke to LTC prospects, we discussed home health care as part of the picture. Everyone wants to stay in their home but many understand that as a chronic illness progresses, the chances of ending up in an assisted living or skilled nursing facility increases. 

Covid has changed that discussion. The images on the news of elderly patients sequestered in facilities and waving to their families through the windows are heartbreaking. Worse are the exorbitant numbers of infections and deaths at these facilities as the virus spreads through the community. The staff and care givers are getting the virus too.

This is why clients are so much more interested in staying in their homes now. Yes, many LTC policies include coverage for home health care, but the premiums on those policies can be very high. Plus the underwriting may keep some of these prospects from getting coverage at all, regardless if they stay at home or a facility. 

With all of this in mind, we have been fortunate to find a suitable Short Term Home Healthcare (STHHC) policy from one of our carriers. This policy is a great addition to any LTC planning in that it's both affordable and easy to understand. 

A client can receive benefits as they stay at home for up to 365 days, and those do not have to be consecutive days. Some people may have a caregiver in their home only 2 or 3 days a week. They can also choose from three levels for their benefits along with some additional riders. 

The policy is not available in all states and the minimum application age is 61 years old. Given that 24 hour/round the clock home healthcare can cost over $70,000 annually, taking a look at STHHC is a smart move that can save you tens of thousands of dollars in the long run, as well as keeping one out of facility. 

If you are interested in learning more, check out our website or drop us a note and we can schedule a phone appointment. In the meantime, stay healthy and forward thinking.  

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog!

My Personal Long Term Care Story Part 2

In my previous post I told the story of my aunt who spent 22 years in a nursing home after breaking her hip. Since her adult children were in no position financially to pay for her care, my parents took the reins. The financial part of her care was draining, but so was the emotional segment. Frankly speaking, my parents were burnt out.

When my aunt died, my mother called me and broke the news in a very somber voice. Knowing exactly what she was thinking I asked, "Do I hear dad in the background dancing a little jig?" Two decades of financial burden was finally off his plate.

My mother chuckled and said, "Shut up. We're supposed to be sad." She was sad at some level but at that moment she was glad that it was over. 

As I mentioned previously, soon after this I approached my parents about purchasing long term care insurance. Surely they would see the need after all they had been through, but that wasn't the case at all. In fact, my father was adamantly against the idea. "I'm not trying to make a sale, I'm trying to avoid going through all this again," I pled , but he wouldn't listen. "I don't care if you buy a policy from someone else, just get a policy!" I said.

Within a few years, my mother, who was now in her seventies, was in need of a knee replacement. At some point during or after the surgery she had a small stroke. The two week rehab became six weeks of rehab.

The stroke also triggered dementia. When she returned home, she insisted that family members, who were long dead, were at the house and she was going to serve them dinner. My father, who had refused my help in getting a long term care insurance policy was her caregiver. Over the next five years they settled in to a routine. I would drive two hours on the weekends to visit, sometimes with my own family, and sometimes not. It was all very stressful, as my father, I discovered, was a micromanager. 

My mother's health declined slowly over the years and my father wasn't doing much better. He developed a twitch in his hand and refused to discuss it. His weight dropped as he tried to manage the household, which he wasn't very good at doing, while driving my mother to her various appointments. Occasionally, he would ask me to fill in while he took care of his own medical issues. 

About five years after her stroke my mother had a health setback, which was looking pretty dire. That's when my father told my sister that "Maybe I need to look into that insurance your brother tried to talk to me about." She had to explain that it was too late, no insurance company would accept my mother's application. 

Seven months later my mother passed away. Now all of the attention was refocused on my father, who would later disclose that he had already been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. 

He insisted on living alone, and let it be known to anyone who would listen that he wanted to be left alone. My sister and I made attempts to help, which he only accepted when he was desperate. After a series of falls we intervened, saying that he needed to either go to a facility or have someone stay with him. He settled on a home health agency which was approximately double the cost of a facility. 

When I asked him how he could afford the home health care, he said that he still had the rental income from the properties my mother had inherited, along with his pension. Unfortunately, he also had more expenses and debt that he didn't let us know about. To make up the difference, he was dipping into his home equity line. We didn't know about that part of his finances until his death earlier this year. 

One of my regrets is that I was never able to convince my father that there was value in long term care insurance. Friends and family, who still acknowledge that he was very "difficult" man, try to tell me that I did my best, but as an agent, I failed in my job. 

Nowadays, we have long term care policies, life insurance policies with "living benefits", and short term home health care policies, which would have helped my parents immensely, if they had been open to the idea. If you don't want to be a burden to your family, take a serious look into these options. 

With Covid taking it's toll in facilities, home health care is more important now than ever. If you have a family member in your care, take precautions, wear a mask and wash your hands, like we've been told. Please be safe and enjoy your holidays with your loved ones so you can enjoy them next year as well. 

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog! Thanks! 

My Personal Long Term Care Story Part 1

When I speak to groups about long term care I usually start off by asking the audience to raise their hand if they know of someone who is either receiving care or has received long term care. Of course, every hand goes up. Each participant has a story about a parent, grandparent or other family member who has been in a facility or had home care at some time. 

Since it's Long Term Care Awareness Month I thought I would share a personal story. In 1979 my aunt, who was already having mobility issues, fell down and broke her hip. My mother's oldest sister by 20 years, my aunt was moved to a nursing facility. Her adult children were in no position to pay for a nursing home, so it fell on my parents to help out.

My aunt had inherited a rental property when my grandmother had died a few years earlier, but the rent was not enough to cover her bills. At the time, long term care insurance had not been developed yet, so the cost of her care would have to come out of someone's pockets. 

After some thought and negotiations, her rental property was put in a trust, with my father as the trustee and the beneficiary. Any shortages would be the responsibility of my parents, who were in their 50's at the time. Statistically, people who have broken a hip usually survive on average around 3-5 years. If and when my aunt would pass away, my parents would inherit her rental property. 

Years came and went. The five year mark, then the ten year mark. My father renegotiated the leases as they expired to keep up with the cost of his sister-in-law's care. More years went by, and my aunt continued on in her nursing home. And as this wore on, my parents continued to age as well. Money was tight as my parents try to keep themselves and my aunt afloat. 

I was in high school when my aunt was put in the nursing home. While she was there I went to college, graduated, moved away, got married and had a child. When she passed away in 2001, my aunt had been in the nursing home for 22 years. My parents, who were now in their 70's, were financially and emotionally drained. At the time of her death, my mother and father were paying over $5000 per month out of their pockets for her care. 

After her funeral, my aunt's adult children asked about their inheritance. Apparently no one, including their mother, had bothered to mention the arrangement with the trust fund. Upset with the situation, they never spoke to my parents again.

As I was restarting my career in insurance, I tried to speak to my parents about their care. At the time, they were still eligible to purchase coverage, but being children of the depression, they deflected my pleas to look into it. 

"Don't put us (my sister and I) in the same position you were in all of those years," I begged to no avail. I lived about two hours away from my parents and my sister was about seven hours away. "What are we going to do if something happens to mom?" I asked my father. 

"I'll take care of her," he said. Sadly, his words were prophetic. 

In Part 2 of this post, I'll share what happened as my parents became chronically ill. 

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog! Thanks!

Long Term Care Awareness Month In the Midst of Covid

November is Long Term Care Awareness Month and Surf Financial Brokers is here to help you understand why planning for your Long Term Care (LTC) is important. And even more so in a year when Covid_19 has ravaged our nursing homes and other facilities housing the chronically ill, as well as their staffs. As we have all seen on the news lately, planning can make the difference between dying alone in a facility or dying at home with access to loved ones.

I'd like to share with you some interesting numbers.* 

• Average out-of-pocket costs are $140,000 for people who use paid LTC services, and almost 9% will spend over $250,000.
• About 7.5 million people have LTCI coverage, and LTCI issuers paid about $11 billion in benefits to about 310,000 claimants in 2019.

And with the cost of care increasing each year, many people aren't sure if they can afford to be in a facility. if they may need a LTC insurance policy or what other options are available. 

When you include Covid into the mix, it makes planning more confusing. COVID-19 has  already killed at least 60,000 U.S. nursing home residents, and it appears to be increasing nursing home mortality levels by at least about 20% over the usual levels, according to nursing home Covid impact data collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid.

Needless to say, the virus has changed the landscape and how people plan for their LTC needs. But what are your needs if you were to look at the future from now?

Unfortunately, younger people generally don't consider being chronically ill, until they see it happen to a parent or grandparent. This is usually when they realize how expensive care is, not to mention the wide variety of facilities and other options. LTC planning should be a part of the retirement planning process, as they are not mutually exclusive.

How does one handle the problem of the high costs associated with being chronically ill? First, there is traditional long term care insurance. It can be pricey as you get older and the companies reserve the right to raise your premiums, but these policies will also include some extra features like respite benefits for caregivers and can help pay for care in a facility or in the home. 

The number one objection I hear when showing a long term care policy to a client is "What if I die before I use it?' It's a reasonable question, as the premium cost can be high. One option is a Return of Premium (ROP) rider, which would, as the name implies, return premiums not used to the insured (or their beneficiaries) if they don't use the policy. Unfortunately, this ROP option is nearly as expensive as the actual policy and I have rarely had anyone ask for it.

The other option is to purchase a hybrid policy, typically a life insurance policy with either an LTC rider or "living benefits", which allow the insured to use the policy for their LTC needs. If they die before needing care, the life insurance just pays out. This has become a popular option, especially for younger clients. And we have one company that has begun including this into their term life policies.

The last option is Short Term Home Health Care (STHHC), which pays if you are receiving care in the home. One of the misconceptions we find is that in-home care is cheaper than a facility. This may be true if family members are the caregivers, but if a private company is brought into the home, the costs can be nearly double of a facility. 

A STHHC policy can help you stay in your own home for up to 365 days, which don't necessarily have to be in a row. This is a great option for people who are concerned about Covid in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The policies are very affordable but the applicant must be a minimum of 61 years old. 

If you have questions about LTC planning, let us help. Drop a note on our website or book an appointment for a quick phone call. 

*Figures are from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI)

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog! Thanks!

Long Term Care and Covid_19 Options

Earlier this year when the Covid_19 epidemic began to invade the country we learned that long term care facilities were being hit hardest by the virus. With the elderly residents already sick, the disease infected not just the patients, but the caregivers and other staff members as well. 

Keeping this in mind, people still need to plan for their care when they will eventually become chronically ill. We all want the pandemic to come to an end as soon as possible. But if it doesn't, do you have a plan in place?

As I have mentioned in previous posts, there are three stages of retirement for most people. I like to call them the "go go" years, the "slow go" years and the "no go" years. Unfortunately, when we think of our retirement, we have images of travel, visiting grandchildren and relaxing on a cruise ship. That would be the "go go" years. They don't always consider the other two stages.

As we age and our health begins to fail, we slow down. We stay closer to home and travel less. Sometimes, those years can even include being a caretaker for a sick family member. If you have never had to take care of someone else who is chronically ill, believe me when I say it can be one of the most difficult and stressful jobs ever.

Finally, there are the "no go" years, in which we are the ones receiving care of some kind, be it in a skilled nursing facility, assisted living facility or even a non-medical "senior community".  None of these options are anyone's first choice and all can be very expensive. And all are currently under scrutiny due to the virus.

Of course, the option every person would love to choose would to be at home. I have discussed my own father's refusal to go into a facility, even though he needed care around the clock. His Parkinson's was causing him to fall often and eventually led to us having to hire a home healthcare agency.

And as facilities are expensive, so is home healthcare. Having a couple of caregivers live in the home with my father was approximately double the cost of a nursing home or assisted living facility. He assured us that he could cover the cost with his pension and some rental income, but he fell short each month. When he passed away, we learned he had been dipping into his home equity line each month. 

What does someone do who wants to plan for the "slow go" years in this situation? Given that we can now acknowledge that facilities may not be a first choice, we think more people will choose to stay at home with a family member, a hired caregiver, or a combination of the two. 

This is why our Short Term Home Healthcare (STHHC) plan has become so popular in recent months. These plans*, which are available to those over 61 years old, are affordable and easy apply for. There are only three questions on the application and it can all be handled over the phone. To see a short video describing the STHHC plan, click here. 

Let us help you navigate the waters of your long term care planning. Visit our website to book an appointment and in the meantime, please stay healthy!

*Plans are not available in all states. Contact us to see if STHHC is available where you live.  

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog!