LongTerm Care

Choosing the Right Long-Term Care Insurance Provider

The success of long-term care depends on the strength of your insurance provider. Long-term care insurance is seriously expensive, so you’d better not risk your lifetime savings on a company that will shut down or go bankrupt in the future. It’s important to keep a keen eye and conduct background check on your potential insurer to prevent the worst financial decision you’ll make in your entire life.

Financial Strength and Size are Crucial

The first two factors that you should look at a company are its strength and size. Small, poorly rated companies selling only two or three types of insurance, including LTCi are not the ones to trust and are the most vulnerable to economic loss. Companies with limited experience don’t have actuarial guidelines for the premium reserved for claims 20 to 30 years from now. A large company with sufficient reserves will be able to pursue its service to claimants despite of unfavorable claims conditions. Otherwise, a small, poorly rated company has little chance of surviving the test of claims.

Another reason for considering the strength and size is the current market environment. The current market is not large enough to favor all insurance companies. The reality is that it takes some massive investments to launch a new product, build or expand market share, and attract the premium income that will start producing profits. Only large, successful companies have their resources to stand still on the wobbling economy and expand their market share despite the aggressiveness of their competitors.

The Commitment to Long-term Care Insurance

It takes commitment for a company to pursue its visions for the policyholders. A company with commitment to its business strives harder to have cutting edge in the industry. A good sign that a company is committed is the level of resources the company has to expand or improve its long-term care business. For instance, we can say a company is committed if it acquires a few more company related to long term care or form a company that focuses solely on the sale of LTCi.

Another sign is the amount of market share the company owns. Evidently, the bigger the market share a company has means the longer the stay of the company primarily for its financial obligations. Bigger companies can only perform those roles.

Rate Stability

The insurance regulators ensure that the rate stability of LTCi is favorable for older policyholders with fixed incomes to help them keep up the costs. Good LTCi companies try its best to keep the increases under control and avoid unreasonable increments.

However, it is painstaking to distinguish which company will file premium increase in the future. One alternative way to check if the company has adequate premiums is through the “Long-term Care Experience Reports” published annually by the NAIC.

The second useful indicator is the company’s underwriting philosophy. The underwriting can determine the company’s approach to obtaining bid information, benefits offered, and the participation rates. According to study conducted by Millman & Robertson Inc., companies with “underwriting” procedures have 3 times the claims loss ration during the first three years compared to those with “tight” underwriting.

How to Pay for Long Term Care Costs

There are so many possible ways to pay long term care based on your personal needs. Below are the solutions in paying for long-term care:

Self Insure – This is so far the most expensive way of paying LTC. This is often used by people who wish to exhaust their assets and qualify for Medicaid in return. However, it is not advisable to use this method because it can drain your assets. People work hard to accrue great money and assets to live a fancied lifestyle, so using the personal savings for long-term care doesn’t make sense at all.

Medicare/Medicaid – Medicaid/Medicare is a publicly funded program aimed at helping the poor. Medicaid follows strict qualifications in determining the recipients of the program. Many Americans protest on the strictness of Medicaid for long-term care including the asset limitation. To become eligible, your asset should be at poverty level or 00 total cash assets and your estate is subject for state recovery. Also, Medicaid decides where you stay and who will provide care for you. Those circumstances are not favorable for seniors who wish to lead a dignified elderly life.

Commercial Long Term Care Insurance – There are reputable companies throughout the country offering competitive policies designed for individual needs. Nowadays, insurance companies are attracting younger people for LTC coverage to ensure their elder care and protect their assets. Financial experts advise people in their late 40s and 50s to start buying policies to safeguard their assets than wait until the cost becomes much expensive or they become insurable.

The type of policy that can be purchased from the insurer depends primarily on the age and health history. It is important to discuss with your insurance agent your health history and personal needs to identify the policy that will work best for your interest.

Group Plans – These are designed to provide much affordable plans to members of association, normally between the employee and employer. Some commercial insurance may offer discounts on individual policy when he/she is included in the group insurance of the same company or organization.

Group plans are underwritten by commercial companies. Group plans normally have restrictive benefits and higher deductibles versus the individual plan. It may be non-tax qualified, meaning you pay tax on benefits but the premiums are not tax deductible.  Otherwise, the insured may lose some of the options or benefits if he/she resigns.

Life Insurance with Long Term Care Rider – This plan is pricier compared to the long term care insurance. The initial premium and death benefit determines the total amount of monthly LTC payment. The death benefit should be drained first to get the LTC, and then the rider continues to pay the benefits. Any death benefit not covered for LTC will be given to the beneficiaries.

Corporate Benefits – Small business may enjoy the benefits from multi-life discounts provided with simple underwriting. There are also executive LTC programs, voluntary employer programs and association plans available.

Reverse Mortgage – This is not a substitute for long term care insurance since you must live in your house. The amount of benefits depends on the borrower’s age, the FHA maximum lending limit, and current interest rates. This is an option for people with low or insufficient incomes.

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Secrets to Long Term Success in Baggage Handler Positions

One of the most under appreciated positions in the airline industry today is in baggage handling. People are travelling by the millions each year through airports in the United Kingdom and Europe. With the exception of business travellers who only bring a small bag or brief case with them, most baggage needs to be checked and store aboard the airplane. Baggage handlers need to deal with baggage of every size and shape, properly storing it in the cargo area of a passenger liner without error. Young baggage handlers need to learn a few secrets in order to succeed over the long term in the airline industry.

One of the secrets to career long success in the baggage handling profession is to develop empathy for every traveller’s bag that they encounter. Baggage handlers in the United Kingdom handle millions of pieces of luggage on a yearly basis, which means that they hold in their hands billions of pounds worth of merchandise and treasured possessions. These hard working professionals need to be able to put themselves in the position of every traveller heading through their particular airline. The best way a baggage handler can do this is to think about their own travel experiences and handle baggage with care.

Another secret to long term success in the baggage handling world is to become familiar with every aspect of the airline industry. Baggage handlers often focus on their specific job responsibilities, narrowing in on perfecting their own performance in the workplace. However, baggage handlers are part of a larger process whereby luggage is brought to them from the customer service centre and ends up aboard the airline. As such, baggage handlers are not the beginning and end of the baggage storage process at major UK airlines. Handlers should consider the tasks of the front line workers like ticket agents and security guards in determining which baggage can be brought aboard, stored away, or rejected for travel.

A final secret for the success of baggage handlers in the United Kingdom is that teamwork is the best path toward job advancement. Baggage handlers work in an assembly line environment, where handlers work to organise baggage into classes, load it onto conveyer belts, and determine the best way to get the job done. Individually, baggage handlers can work hard to get their job done and may be successful over the short term. However, baggage handlers interested in long term success build strong relationships in order to ensure the smooth operation of the loading process.

When taking care of the elderly, a person must be patient, they must listen and they must help the elderly maintain some independence. Find out how to determine what an elderly patient wants with help from a board-licensed practical nurse in this free video on nursing and becoming a nurse. Expert: Dan Carlson Contact: www.myspace.com/dclpn Bio: Dan Carlson has a degree in practical nursing and is licensed out of Minnesota. Carlson worked for many years at a nursing home and specializes in working with the handicapped. Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz
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Are You Getting the Long-Term Care Training You Need?

Long-term care training is crucial now more than ever before. With the OIG and CMS zeroing in on long-term care facilities, you and your staff need to take extra care in getting the training that can mean avoiding fraud, abuse and Stark law problems.

Long-term care training — specifically in how to prepare for an OIG or CMS compliance audit — should be your top priority right now. CMS and the OIG are getting generous funding to enhance their Medicare and Medicaid enforcement efforts, with a main focus on long-term care facilities.

Watch Your Quality of Care, Medication Policies

Among the most common long-term care targets are quality-of-care issues, deals with medical directors and suppliers, and medication policies. The OIG and CMS are directing a critical eye toward Stark law violations in long-term care settings. Your long-term care training should focus on these issues, plus the crucial step of creating and properly using a compliance committee.
Of special concern for federal investigators is any deals or contracts you might have with medical directors, doctors and suppliers. You’ll need make aggressive efforts to unwind or modify these problematic deals — before they send up red flags.

What FY 2010 Has in Store for SNF PPS

Your long-term care training should also encompass coding, billing and related compliance issues. Medicare’s final rule on the Prospective Payment System (PPS) for Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) has a plethora of changes in store for your coding and billing.
When planning your long-term care training on these coding, billing and compliance issues, keep in mind these major changes to the SNF PPS:

The RUG IV system will replace the current RUG III system; FY 2010 payment rates will include a 2.1-percent market basket increase, but the adjustments will result in a negative rate update worth hundreds of millions of dollars; MDS 3.0 will be implemented; and The ADL scoring range will change to 0 to 16 instead of 4 to 18.

Incorporate these major issues with your fraud, abuse and Stark law education in your long-term care training to keep your facility out of trouble and running smoothly.

How Long Will You Have to Pay Long-Term Care Insurance Premiums?

No one likes to pay insurance premiums of any kind and long-term care insurance is no exception. We pay these premiums because the alternative leaves our investment assets and retirement income exposed to high risk if long-term care becomes necessary and we have to pay for the care ourselves. It is no secret that the cost of nursing facility care can quickly drain a retirement nest egg and force a retiree into financial ruin. By purchasing long-term care insurance, a policyholder is accepting a small loss each year in the form of premiums paid. This relatively small loss helps ensure that he or she will not be wiped out financially by unmanageable long-term care costs in the future. Choices for Premium Payment Periods People who are unfamiliar with long-term care insurance often wonder how long the premiums will need to be paid. The answer is that there are three choices for the premium payment period usually offered by insurance carriers. The most popular choice by far is a “lifetime” payment period that requires the payment of premiums until death or until the policy is activated. Some object to paying these premiums for such a long period of time. In response to that objection I usually ask prospective clients to consider other forms of insurance that they most likely own. For instance, would they expect to only pay premiums for health or major medical insurance for a short time, or do they plan on paying those premiums for life? Wouldn’t they expect to pay auto insurance premiums for as long as they drive? Isn’t it reasonable to pay homeowners insurance premiums for as long as they own a home? As long as the financial risk is present, the payment of insurance premiums is prudent. Since the risk of needing long-term care is present for as long as we live, the premiums for long-term care insurance can be expected for the remainder of our life. Shorter Premium Payment Periods Equal Higher Premiums The second and third options for payment of long-term care premiums allow the policyholder to condense all of those expected premium payments into a shorter time period. For those under fifty-five years of age, a “pay to age sixty-five” option may make sense. For others a “ten-year pay” option may be a good choice. Because the expected premium payments over a lifetime are simply condensed into a shorter timeframe, the cost of these premiums is much higher. Therefore, these options usually make sense for policyholders who can take advantage of tax deductions that help them reduce the overall cost of their long-term care insurance.

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Long Term Care Insurance

Long term care insurance is sold in United Stated and United Kingdom, rarely sold in rest of countries. It’s not only protects individuals but also his loved ones, in the event of that extended health care is required in the future. In short, it helps to provide the cost for long term care. It is the best option for the middle income earners.

Buying a long term care insurance is in mind of many peoples, in particular those very close to retiring and need extra cover in their life. Another fact is that the people buy to take care of loved ones over a longer period of time. Age is not determining factor, but people in good health purchasing long term care insurance at the age of 55 years can get better deal.

Most of people assume that health insurance will pay their long term care cost. But it is valid for limited period of time and cover limited scenarios. The policy covers the individuals who are not able to perform the basic activities of life due to chronic illness, injury, disability. It includes bathing, eating, dressing, walking, etc. Long term care insurance is the only way of helping to pay for these expenses.

Generally, long term care insurance cover home care, hospital care, adult care, nursing home care and Alzheimer’s diseases. Many people feels uncomfortable to keep a support for their family and children’s long term care insurance is a better to cover out of pocket expenses.

Talking about the premium, it is considerably higher and depends upon insured’s age, health status and desired benefits from the policy. The premium paid for a long term care insurance may be eligible for tax deduction. Many insurance companies are in the market to do their business, so available long term care insurance policies are in different rates and discounts. Just doing some work you can choose precisely, and at the lowest possible cost.

These videos, developed specifically by and for long-term care professionals, demonstrate essential skills related to ten vital inservice topics. Each 8-10 minute video, set in an actual long-term care facility, features the most up-to-date training available. You can buy each of the 10 videos separately, or together as a complete inservice training program. For more information, visit hcmarketplace.com

Long Term Care Story: Dad Couldn’t Remember My Name

My father-in-law lived to age 100 years, 6 months and 3 days.

In his final years he was a confined to his home with live-in nurses to oversee medication, food preparation and to keep him from wandering off.  He was a pistol, an ornery man very annoyed that he couldn’t still live the lifestyle he was used to.  And he made everyone aware of the way he felt.  He was becoming very frail and couldn’t be active in the community any more.

The Burden

It was a great burden to his children to take those car keys away, to hear his snare and mean words as he lashed out before live-in care givers were hired.  But the burden of that decision faded and gave way to the painful experiences of him forgetting who his children were while talking with them on the phone.

This is the part that really was hurtful for my husband, Jim.  Even though we read through all the educational pamphlets on dementia and know that anything said by Dad shouldn’t be taken personally, it still stung – sometimes deeply—when my husband, Jim, would call to talk with his Dad.  It got so that Jim didn’t call as frequently and then barely as it got more painful and the conversations became more difficult.  The first few moments of each conversation Jim would have to spend time describing to his Dad who he was and for his Dad to acknowledge Jim as one of his sons, only to have to repeat the exercise a few times during the whole telephone visit

The End

In the end, my husband and two brothers were at his bedside. Jim’s 3 sisters had visited throughout his last several months.  The family was fortunate there were assets to pay for the live-in nurses for those several years.  If he had lived 6 more months, all the cash reserves and all saleable assets would have been spend on his care.  A reverse mortgage was being researched with the guardian’s signature at the ready.  It was a close call, financially.  All that was left was the family homestead that was there for almost 4 generations, which had to be sold to settle the estate.

Plan Now For The Future

This family long term care experience started halfway through my current career as a Long Term Care Planning Specialist.  You’d be surprised how often I hear of similar experiences of caring for elderly family members and the costs involved when the family didn’t prepare in advance for care expenses.  All of us are our own insurance company paying out of pocket for long term care unless we pro-actively decide now to put protection in place to protect our assets, our spouse’s health and our independence.  Planning now to live with dignity and have control of over your care choices is easily done by researching whether Long Term Care Insurance is right for you with the aid of an experienced professional who specialized in this field.  I encourage you to consider this important protection not only for yourself, but your adult children as well.

More at www.theuptake.org It’s the longest election in Minnesota’s history, and it’s still not over. But a ruling from Minnesota’s election contest court may have signaled the beginning of the end of Minnesota’s US Senate race. Former Senator Norm Coleman’s chances of winning the election were severely dimmed when the court ruled that only 400 additional ballots will be counted. Democrat Al Franken leads Coleman by 225 votes. The election contest has been a soap opera, drawing thousands of viewers from all over the country every day. In the above video, The UpTake’s Mike McIntee takes us through the major plot lines and moments of the trial, which has been educational as well as entertaining.
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What Are Long Term Care Insurance Leads and Can They Benefit Your Business?

Long term care insurance leads offer great potential to any insurance agent. If you aren’t familiar with these types of leads, it is best you familiarize yourself with them first. Then you can begin to take advantage of their potential through quality long term care insurance leads. This is a segment of insuring that can prove quite lucrative for a savvy agent. Long term care insurance is gaining popularity as the cost of medical care skyrockets. Most young people don’t realize its importance, but even they are beginning to see it as useful. The fact is, if you are in an accident, regardless of your age, you might be unable to work or care for yourself. This is when long term care is necessary. Indeed, anyone could benefit from it and not having it could put you in financial ruins. For these reasons, selling LTC insurance is easier than you might think, especially if you start with quality insurance leads. Although it is possible to talk anyone into a sale, it is much easier to sell a policy to someone who has demonstrated interest in a potential policy. This is where long term insurance leads come in. By using leads you gain a significant advantage. You already know the lead is interested in learning more about long term insurance, and this increases the likelihood of a policy purchase substantially. Today there are many companies that specializing in collecting lists of potential leads for a variety of different types of insurance. Purchasing leads is a quick way to increase your business, but it isn’t the only way. Just like companies that specialize in providing long term care insurance leads, you too can collect your own leads. A great way to do this is to have an opt-in section on your website that allows interested visitors to request more information. Often a person interested in long term care policies will be willing to fill out information about themselves in an effort to learn the rates they qualify for. By creating forms with relevant questions, you can start getting your own leads, and collecting pertinent information on these leads that could help you close the deal. Once you understand a little about LTC insurance and feel confident you can answer any questions that might arise, then you are ready to start selling policies. Whether you decide to purchase leads from a company specializing in their collection and sale, or you decide to collect your own long term care leads; taking advantage of quality leads will increase your sales dramatically. It is so much easier to sell a product to someone when you already know they are interested in buying it. So take advantage of insurance leads to get your business booming.

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Understanding Long Term Care Insurance

“Old age may seem a long way off. But on the day it doesn’t, it will be too late to do anything about it.”

Sooner or later, we all need help. While we age, our wisdom increases but our body decays. All over America, tens of thousands of people need regular professional care. Though it is not an eventuality for everyone, the right thing to do is to be prepared. This is where Long term care insurance comes into play. Truth is not every family can afford the kind of care that sick people might need to get through daily activities. The result is taking a sabbatical from work or worse even, dipping into retirement fund due to lack of options. We all want a cheerful and comfortable life for our families. The tax of long term care could do just the opposite.

Long term care is needed by people who are unable to perform at least two activities of daily living or need supervision while performing these activities. Though the majority of people need it due to old age, debilitating accidents, chronic diseases or a health conditions that require constant monitoring are other reasons why even young or hitherto healthy people might require long term care. Taking out a Long term care insurance policy should cover the expenses like home care, assisted living, adult day care and even nursing home in the untoward event that you need the assistance due to a physical condition or due to the complications developed in old age.

There are several options in long term care insurance through which you can choose the type of care and the maximum expenses that could occur. You can also choose the benefit period, i.e., the amount of time you will be expecting long term care. It could be anywhere between three years and ten years while there is also the option of unlimited term care. You can pay for the insurance using limited pay plans or life plans. Through limited pay plans you can choose to pay the premiums for a certain period like ten years or till you reach a certain age. Generally, people pay the cost of insurance in premiums till they retire.

Like every other insurance policy, term care insurances come with several stipulations too and one needs to be wary of these while buying one. The most important factor, however is to start on a policy as soon as possible. With age, one might develop health conditions that can increase the cost of premium or can make one ineligible for long term care insurance. Also, the cost of the premium is lesser when one is younger.

( www.vawatchdog.org ) From the NBC Nightly News, Friday February 23, 2007.
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Workable Alternatives To Long Term Care Insurance

Health care insurance premiums take the biggest bite out of most people’s incomes. Adding in the cost of a long term care policy just isn’t possible for most of us. Though people have tried other ways to finance these types of policies such as private funding and reverse mortgages, they have not had much success. Do we have any other options?

One possible alternative is Life insurance. To fully appreciate how this works you must understand how life insurance works. The most basic kind of life insurance is term life insurance. Your life is insured for a period of time such as 10 or 20 years. When you are no longer living your beneficiaries get the money from the policy. The policy does not have any worth other than that specific circumstance i.e. there is no cash value.

Permanent insurance, a kind of life insurance where there is a cash value has four variations – whole life, universal life, variable life and variable universal life. Whole life insurance involves paying the same premium each month and part of the premium is invested so that you accumulate some savings you can borrow against or receive if you cash in the policy. Universal life is a combination of term insurance and savings account but the difference here is you can change the amount of your life insurance. Your premium varies according to the amount of life insurance you have.

Variable Life insurance the third type of permanent life insurance gives you a greater range of choices in where to invest your money. Your death benefit depends on how well you choose your investments though there is generally a minimum death benefit. Your premium payment will remain the same. Variable universal life insurance allows you to change the amount of your death benefit and premium.

One of the alternatives to long term care insurance is to use a viatical settlement firm.A viatical settlement company can purchase your life insurance while you are still living. The settlement firm will get the money from your policy when you die and so they pay the premiums. You receive a single payment for the value of your policy while you are alive that you can choose to use for long-term care needs.

The amount that you receive from a viatical settlement company is usually 10 to 50 percent of the actual value of the policy. Your life expectancy is the prime factor in how much money you will get – the shorter your life expectancy the more money you get. Insurance experts recommend that you check with your agent regarding viatical settlement firms. Only about half of the states regulate viatical settlement companies. Even in the states that do regulate there are “bad” companies who will try to cheat you.

Another possible alternative to long term care insurance is accelerated death benefits. This is a provision that a permanent life insurance policy may have which helps in providing money to help pay for long term care. The benefit of this arrangement is that if you do not require a nursing home or in home care the policy still has a death benefit. With a conventional long term care policy if long term care is never required the money paid in premiums is gone.