How Sandwich Generation Cope with Long Term Care

The increasing rate in long term care services does not only threaten seniors and baby boomers as they are the frequent victims of the price increase; it alarms millions of the “sandwich generation”—both young and old. The sandwich generation simply refers to individuals who are expected to provide support for aging parents or loved ones. Whether it sounds as a curse or not, surely, there will be no person who would wish to include on that list particularly in this vacillating economy.

The staggering economy worsens the already tremendous scenario—seniors are slaving themselves to limited retirement savings, and their children are to carry the load filled with remorse that they should’ve planned earlier. After they have trumped college, now they are faced with much bigger responsibilities with their parents.

There’s a tough transition from being a “spoiled” child to an adult who has to look after an aging parent. For some, they consider using their retirement savings and cutting back retirement plans, but this move can literally results to “exhaustion.” This can give temporary solution, but the result is enduring.

 

Here  are some ways that give best results:

Looking at long term care insurance — Discuss this with your parents. Long term care insurance covers a lot of services both medical and non-medical, depending on your parents needs, and the daily benefits can be customized to meet such needs.

Considering adult day care — Those who had quit their jobs and chose to provide care to their parents turned sour over their wrong decision. If you quit your job, you will lose monthly income that might be used for your parents’ care. Enrolling them in adult day care is worth a try 🙂

Ask your employer of there are care-giving benefits –– Some big corporations and companies offer caregiving benefits to its employees. Be quick to ask your boss!

Ask about care-giving benefits at work

Some large employers offer elder-care service locators or other care-giving support as an employee benefit. And you can find out if your parents are eligible for federal, state and other benefits through www.benefitscheckup.org.

Long Term Care Insurance Inflation Protection Options

In planning to get the best LTC insurance policy that one would avail, it is also important to put into consideration the long term care insurance inflation protection that his potential plan might have because this specific feature is considered as the most important and most beneficial of all features that all LTC policies in America must have.

 

Discussing the different processes and how an LTC plan works as a whole is quite complicated but even if you try to analyze each aspect one by one, you would still need a lot of time and preparations in order to fully understand everything that you have to know about it.

 

Talking about inflation protection alone is kind of confusing especially for those who are not really familiar with insurance terminologies. But every individual who wants to get an LTC plan must understand and wisely comprehend every little detail that would be given to them so as not to miss out any important factors that might help them purchase a more budget-friendly LTC monthly premium.

 

First of all, one has to know that inflation protection has the capacity to adjust and regulate the value of a specific policy according to the present LT costs available. It has certain levels and options that are based on the age of the individual at the time of his insurance plan purchase. More often than not, insurance companies give or offer higher levels to those applicants or insurance plan holders who were able to avail their policies at a young age.

 

Since long term care insurance inflation protection is one of the mandatory features that all LTC plans must provide, an individual must discuss about this with his insurance provider. But there are some cases where the policyholder may not avail of an insurance plan with inflation protection especially if he acquired his LTC policy at age 71 and up. Nevertheless, his insurance provider will still have to explain this thoroughly and offer any applicable level to the person.

 

Below are just some of the inflation protection options that one can avail in order to maximize his policy benefits:

 

1. 5% Simple or Equal Inflation Protection – policies that have this kind of inflation protection can expect a 5% increase for their benefit amount every year. For example, if an individual has a $100 benefit amount, $5 will be added to his price limit and he might have a $200 benefit amount if he will use his policy after 20 years.

 

 

1. 5% Compound Inflation Protection – a policyholder with this level of inflation protection can get higher additional benefit amount over the years compared to those who have the simple inflation protection. However, this may cost a bit higher than the first inflation protection option.

 

 

1. Consumer Price Index (CPI) – the benefit amount and other insurance benefits of the insured person will based on the current CP Index, which will be computed by the government. But there is a big possibility that LTC and other medical costs increase more rapidly than the inflation in general.

 

There might be other long term care insurance inflation protection options that your insurance may provide. Inquire about these now so that you can decide and prepare yourself before you actually buy an LTC plan of your own.

 

Should I Self-insure or Not

Experts suggest middle-class Americans should purchase long term care insurance because they are more vulnerable to financial drawbacks brought by LTC. However, this creates confusion among upper-middle and high-income Americans as to whether purchasing LTCi or not would be beneficial, particularly these people think they have overflowing savings and resources to pay for the health care services, treatments and medication. Sometimes, over-confidence and complacency kill right thinking and decision-making.

People would reiterate, “I have saved more and won’t run out of savings in case my health fails big time!”  Good if it turns that way. Many individuals have retirement savings ranging between $500,000 and more, assuming that these nest eggs would last more than the average working class. Nevertheless, being realistic on the current condition of the health care system in the country will help you realized the things you’ve snubbed.

Most individuals consider using their retirement savings for a business or anything that would spawn money to keep their independence, and spending it for long term care services is excluded on the their priority list. Regrettably, the cost of care for just a year in a nursing home in 2011 ran the average of $85,775, according to Hancock Survey. Last year’s cost will eventually increase four-fold in the next few years. A typical Alzheimer’s patient would need care around four to eight years that may force him or her to spend the lowest amount of $700,000 to several millions. Having a realistic look at the costs of long term care, one will realize that he needs to exhaust retirement savings to sustain all those expenses