Poll:Will you purchase a LTC Policy?

[SpencerM]

LTC is the big elephant in the room and many are lining up to sell us policies. On the other hand, some companies are quietly getting out of the business.

Is This the End of Long-Term-Care Insurance? - WSJ.com

What have/will you do to hedge this? If this topic and poll is recently already out there - I didn't find it - apologies!

S

 

[obgyn65]

My answer is no (can't figure out the cost/benefit yet), but I will revisit the idea by the time I reach 60.

What have/will you do to hedge this? If this topic and poll is recently already out there - I didn't find it - apologies!

S

 

[donheff]

Need a moderator to fix my vote. I just woke up and did a reversal on the bracket directions -- I voted that I bought a policy after 60 but I should be with the rest of the before 60s.

 

[rescueme]

Self insure, based upon discussions with our (elder law) attorney, who has had this question many times (and many family circumstances/assets) over the years.

 

[ProGolferWannabe]

I was wondering if this development could be interpreted as good or bad for existing policy holders?

 

[easysurfer]

I fall in the purchased and before 60 camp.

 

[73ss454]

I'm wondering that if a couple that is under 60 take 2 term LI policies, could this be cheaper in the long run. So if you take 2 250K LI policies for 25 year terms this would make the other person whole once one is gone. I would guess that this would cover most stays in a nursing home and may work if you have the money to lay out for the home during the stay.

 

[Ally]

We recently tried to purchase it for both of us, but they turned me down due to chronic kidney disease. It's stable and not expected to get worse, but nevertheless they said no. I expected as much. So we are carrying one with Genworth for my husband. I guess we will be self insuring me.

 

[MBAustin]

I purchased LTC insurance while still in my 40s, as DH is disabled from MS and I did not want to take the chance of depleting assets that he might need if something catastrophic were to happen to me first. A few months before he retired, he was able to buy into a group LTC policy (relatively limited but also relatively cheap) so we now both have LTC. At this point we intend to keep both policies but could revisit depending on portfolio returns and policy costs in the future.

 

[Goonie]

I purchased a LTC policy with Prudential when I was 49, just a couple of weeks prior to my 50th BD and my retirement date. After 50, the premium would have increased about $25 per month.....so I just squeezed thru under the wire!

 

[Brdofpray]

DW and I came close to pulling the trigger on a policy this past December. We were taken in by the scare tactics the sales person employed (rising health costs, everybody will need it, on and on.). We thought that part of the sale would be to look at our assets, to determine first; whether we need it, and second; how much of a policy do we need. This was not the case. They were only interested in selling us the biggest policy they could. (Which from their standpoint, makes perfect sense.) We took a weekend and cranked the figures for ourselves. We talked to our broker, ran several scenarios through FIRE calc. We found that we could essentially self insure. The money we would save on the policy, will be funneled into our portfolio. If both of us enter total care tomorrow, it will be tight, but doable. After 10 years, everything will be golden, financially speaking.

I would strongly advise you to really run the figures for yourself, and your situation. The people that sell the policies are not going to do it for you.

 

[JakeBrake]

Purchased LTC policies for DW and myself at age 60. That's greater than 60 for the poll.

 

[jclarksnakes]

Sorry but I cannot vote on this poll because none of the choices fit me. No longterm care for me, thank you. I have other plans. Many people assume that nothing could be worse than death. To me living for an extended time with other people wasting their time and my money caring for me would be far worse than death. I have said that I would rather eat dirt than go back to work but if Dr Kevorkian were in practice here I would be glad to go back to work as his nurse. If I did believe in longterm care I would self insure.

 

[donheff]

Sorry but I cannot vote on this poll because none of the choices fit me. No longterm care for me, thank you. I have other plans. ...if Dr Kevorkian were in practice here I would be glad to go back to work as his nurse.

I suspect I am as firmly in the off myself category as you. I think we should all be allowed to purchase effective, painless suicide drugs. That said, I can visualize some LTC circumstances in which I might choose to live (a long lasting but not permanent disability) and others where I don't have any choice in the matter (a car accident leaving me paralyzed or vegetative but non-terminal). I want to be as comfortable as possible in those situations and I sure don't want a society that forces me to live despite my preferences to take away my fortune for the favor. So I am in the LTC insurance camp.

 

[sengsational]

My company signed up with an insurance company to pitch ltc to employees. The letter they sent went into the trash when I read the appallingly low lifetime maximum.

 

[Nords]

Sorry but I cannot vote on this poll because none of the choices fit me. No longterm care for me, thank you. I have other plans.

We used to have a poster here who made brave talk about his "Hemingway option".

The issue is that by the time the person who you are today might want to exercise that option, the person who you'll be will no longer have the skills or the inclination. It's very difficult to pick out where on that slippery slope you cross from "barely doing OK" to "just slightly below the power curve". What if you're only suffering from a touch of the flu, and you'll be better next week?

Of course there are still healthcare directives and "Do Not Resuscitate" options, and those are essential.

My fear is that someday a computer will be deciding whether or not I'm still sentient:
"Open the refrigerator doors, HAL."
"I'm sorry, Nords, I can't do that until you spell 'existential' backwards. Or are you past your early stage of Alzheimers?"

 

[jclarksnakes]

Whether to resuscitate or not is just one of many choices that should be considered when making a living will. In writing a living will if someone were so inclined they could choose no food or IV fluids if unable to self feed for more than a certain number of days. Specifying no transfusions or medical procedures after being unable to perform specific activities of daily living for more than 30 days is also a good choice for someone like myself. It is rare for someone to last for very long in a nursing home if they get no medical treatments or procedures. Assisted suicide is more common than most people realize though it is often not needed. Withholding treatment will get the same result though it will usually take longer. Most nursing home stays are just a couple years or less even with very proactive interventions. My dad died at home after he had a stroke and we decided to keep him at home without IV fluids or tube feeding. It was what he would have wanted if he had been able to make the decision though it was not specifically addressed in his living will. It is ironic that my parents paid premiums for LTC insurance for many years but when dad's health was declining he wanted to stay at home rather than go to a nursing home. With help from Hospice we made that work for 2.5 years before he died. Having worked in health care for 14 years I have seen enough to know what I want and do not want from the system. Here in America we spend far too little on promoting health and far too much treating the symsptoms of people's unhealthy lifestyles, especially during the last year of life. Our national view of end of life and dying seems totally absurd to me. It has to change and it will.

As a related side discussion. Assisted living arrangements are a good choice for many people and I would certainly move into one if needed in my future. At that time I would self pay.

 

[Marita40]

I purchased a Genworth policy last year at age 54.

 

[Col. Klink]

With help from Hospice we made that work for 2.5 years before he died. Having worked in health care for 14 years I have seen enough to know what I want and do not want from the system. Here in America we spend far too little on promoting health and far too much treating the symsptoms of people's unhealthy lifestyles, especially during the last year of life. Our national view of end of life and dying seems totally absurd to me. It has to change and it will.

+1 to these comments. Spot on. Also, I think an LTC policy is a good idea if your loved on has Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or another chronic degenerative disorder in the family history. Short of that I would self insure. The premiums on LTC policies are increasing for many people who have paid into them for years. They are like many annuities... the one who really profits is the insurance company.

 

[vttlarry]

Difficult to figure out. As with any insurance, you pay hoping you never have to use it. Worse case, it is money well spent. The increase in premiums and difficulty in claims being paid (as I have read) are concerns as well.

 

[W2R]

Difficult to figure out. As with any insurance, you pay hoping you never have to use it. Worse case, it is money well spent. The increase in premiums and difficulty in claims being paid (as I have read) are concerns as well.

These concerns have kept me from buying LTC insurance as well. I have close friends and relatives that have experienced each and felt they had been scammed.

 

[Alan]

It is very tough to decide what to do but we decided to self insure and set aside my deductible IRA about 8 years ago as an LTC nest-egg. It is excluded from our retirement savings. Since ER'ing I've converted it to a Roth and do a Roth conversion of $5k/year into it. That $5k/year is counted as an expense in the budget.

If we are lucky we won't ever need it and the kids will get it.

 

[Nords]

They are like many annuities... the one who really profits is the insurance company.

I wonder about that. My father paid in a little more than $11K in just over 18 years, and now over the next three years he'll collect a total of $318K in LTC benefits.

I'd hate to think of how may insureds abandoned their policies (or died) for John Hancock to make a profit even after paying off my Dad's policy.

Of course another possibility is that the insurance companies have grossly underestimated the costs of their commitments and won't be able to make good on them. Why, it would almost be as if they were focused more on grabbing market share than on making money. Nah, that can't be right-- no corporation would be that shortsighted...

 

[easysurfer]

I think when it comes to LTC or self-insure, there really is not clear cut answer.

Now to retire early or not? That's an easy answer!

 

[Khan]

I have a LTC policy for several years (before 60); am seriously considering just dropping it.