February 1, 2021
Your Advocacy Connection
By Jamie Long, Chief Patient Advocate
GolderCare Solutions, Unlimited, LLC
Did Gail and I Make a Mistake by Purchasing Long-Term Care Insurance
For the longest time, I preached to anyone who would listen that they should look into purchasing long-term care insurance (“LTCI”) for themselves.
After 10 or 15 years of being a hypocrite, I finally bought LTCI for myself and my wife, Gail.
Our policies are now paid up. Absent a default by the insurance company, Gail and I are set for life. As of 2021, each of our policies would pay out somewhere between $7,000 and $7,500 per month if we need long-term care. We are thankful we don’t have to use them yet. Meanwhile, the amount of the benefits goes up each year at a 5% compounded rate.
Why did we purchase LTCI?
First, we wanted to have a sufficient stream of income to allow us to gain admission to the facility of our choice when the time comes that we need long-term care. Together with my monthly Social Security, my LTCI will pay for any nursing home I choose here in the Quad Cities.
Second, we have no children. We want to make it as easy as we can for other family members to manage our care without their having to worry about how to finance it.
Third, we want to be able to utilize whatever assets we have at that time to pay for our supplemental needs – that is, items and services that can increase our quality of life – rather than using them to pay for just the basic elements of day-to-day long-term care. If we have to spend our assets down on the basic costs of our care, we will risk running out of money to pay for our supplemental needs before we run out of lifespan.
So far, so good. We have all that. We should be able to meet these three goals. What could possibly be problematic?
Well, did I mention Gail and I have another goal as well? That fourth goal is to maximize the quality of our care and our safety and security while receiving it.
Gail’s and my LTCI could put that goal at risk – and our lives along with it. Let me explain how.
First, almost all nursing homes are short-staffed. This was true prior to the current pandemic, and it’s even more true now. So, it follows that some nursing home beds get short-staffed from time to time.
Second, almost all nursing homes participate in Medicaid. By virtue of the Medicaid rules, Medicaid beds – those which have been pre-qualified to accept Medicaid payment – are subject to a higher level of regulation and oversight than private pay beds are.
As a result, it’s always easier and less risky to short-staff a private pay bed than it is a Medicaid bed.
Ironically, most people believe that those who pay privately for their long-term care will receive a higher and better level of care than Medicaid patients do. Too often, the opposite is true.
Gail’s and my ‘mistake’ in purchasing LTCI was to make us private pay patients, thereby potentially endangering our health and safety while we receive long-term care. This is a serious threat. As one former nursing home administrator admitted to me, “You never want to be in a private pay bed.”
As independent patient advocates, we at GolderCare offer potential strategies to remedy this common ‘mistake’ that many people make. Discussion of those will have to wait for another day and more column inches.
GolderCare Solutions Unlimited, LLC is an independent care advocacy group for seniors, the disabled and those that care for them. You can reach GolderCare at (309) 764-2273 and learn more at www.goldercare.com.
