Long-term Care is a big topic. More and more people are susceptible to spending time in assisted living or a long-term care facility. Stays are getting longer as well. The problem for many people is how to pay for it. Long-term care insurance policies have historically been substandard. They paid too little and for too short of a time. Your combined premium tended to be higher than the benefit you would be able to receive. I have seen some fantastic policies that were affordable and covered 100% of costs. Insurance companies have modified their contracts, and you don’t see good policies being issued today.

One thing insurance companies have done instead is to offer a “long-term care rider” on life insurance policies, giving you a long-term care benefit as a part of your life insurance. Some insurance companies have these riders as standard, meaning they are automatically a part of your life insurance policy and come at no additional cost. This will reduce your life insurance benefit. Making sure your life insurance policy includes a long-term care benefit is a great way to cover this potential expense without having to worry about having “wasted” the money if you end up not needing long-term care.

The benefit triggers when you cannot perform 2 out of 6 Activities of Daily Living (definitions vary, but generally include; bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, eating, and mobility) or if you have a cognitive impairment.