Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance - What are your facts?

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

You hit the nail on the head Sharon! This is a very complicated issue.

There's an age cut off for getting long-term care insurance.

If you have a chronic illness Insurance companies do not want to talk to you.  
I know because I tried to get long-term health insurance after I was diagnosed 
with MS. 

Medicare does not pay for nursing homes. 

"Aging in place" is just three words for dying alone. Keeping people in their 
homes means keeping them isolated, lonely, and bored. The three scourges of 
aging alone. Even when you have nurses come in every day there are still long 
periods when you're alone. Even if you have 24 hour nursing care no one will 
ever care for you and look after you the way someone who knows and loves you 
will. That's why am a great believer in the power of relationships develop 
through aging in community.   Unless we developed a social contract within our 
"tribe" I don't think all the long-term care insurance will really help the 
challenges that those of us who age beyond healthy aging will face.  Also… Not 
enough money in the known universe to support the 70 million boomers who will 
be retiring. Even if only 5 million of those reach the age between healthy 
aging and death… Not enough money in the known universe. 

We are not prepared for the Tsunami that is reaching are sure as we speak. 

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington DC

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 7, 2015, at 8:59 PM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> On Dec 7, 2015, at 7:44 PM, Kathryn McCamant <kmccamant [at] 
>> COHOUSING-SOLUTIONS.COM> wrote:
>> 
>> My understanding that Long Term Care Insurance is one of the
>> only sources of funds to cover ³in home² careŠwhich is what we hope to be
>> able to use to stay in our communities.
> 
> This a very complicated subject. Some states have excellent programs for 
> helping people stay in their homes. I would start there. And check local 
> hospital home nursing programs.
> 
> Even though all of her children had moved away, we left our mother in Iowa 
> because it had the best care we or she could afford. She had a lovely 
> apartment, nurses visiting every two weeks to put out her meds (all those 
> pill cases), food delivered, pedicure/manicure and haircut, housecleaning, a 
> medical shuttle for doctor’s appts. (All paid for by the state, Medicare, 
> Medicaid, whatever. My brother handled those details.)
> 
> A few years ago when I investigated long term care insurance, it was clear 
> that it was not helpful unless you were very rich and had an excellent 
> policy. Many had a million loopholes and didn’t cover even a fraction of what 
> care would really cost. One financial planner said they can do more harm than 
> good because if you have it its enough income to disqualify you for federal 
> programs.
> 
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
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