LONG TERM CARE:

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, 9 million of people now age 65 or older can expect to spend some time in a nursing home during their lifetime. Of that number, 21% can expect a nursing home stay of five or more years. Unfortunately, most people fail to plan for the cost of  long term care. All the financial planning in the world can be wasted if you haven’t planned for long term care expenses. A long term care insurance policy can help you preserve your assets and/or property by assuming the risk for you. Very few health insurance policies cover the cost of long term care, so people often end up paying for expenses directly out of their pockets. Consider these facts:

·         $75 million was spent on nursing home care in 2009

·         9% was Medicare’s share of that $75 million

·         $75,000 is the average annual cost of nursing home care in 2009

·         $122,000 is the projected annual cost in 10 years.

Clearly paying for long term care can be a serious problem if you haven’t planned for it. Don’t wait until you need long term care because then it will probably be too late