Long Term Care for the Baby Boomer

As we all know, health care has been in the news lately these days. Harry Reid has put together a 10 year plan in the Senate that would cost $848 billion dollars and would cover an additional 31 million Americans who do not currently have health insurance. Will it get the 60 votes to move forward? Who knows!

What I do know is Baby Boomers need to start planning ahead to ensure they get great health care coverage regardless of what happens in our government. The best way to plan for this is through long term care insurance (LTC). Before rushing into getting a LTC policy, decide for yourself if this is something you will need. Can you self insure? Do you have a family history of long life? How do you want to spend the latter part of your life? Do you have family that can take care of you? Will they really want to take care of you?

All of these questions are ones you need to ask yourself and your family. One thing we know for sure is health care costs are going to continue to go up. Are you prepared to handle this? Some interesting stats that you should think about:

* Over 60% of adults ages 50-64 who are working have been diagnosed with at least one chronic health condition - i.e. - arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure (Commonwealth Fund Report or CFR).

* About 6% of insured older adults in working families (1.8 million people) are underinsured (CFR).

* Nearly 23% said there was a time they went without needed medical care because of cost (CFR).

* 75% of older working adults with individual insurance coverage spent 5% or more of their annual income on premiums and out of pocket medical expenses (CFR).

These statistics are pointed out not to scare you but to get you to think about the role health care will play later on in your life. Although LTC insurance can initially appear to be an expensive option, it might be the difference between providing you with a more comfortable retirement or not!

Carleton