Suggest a long-term care policy to your clients
Rates are lower for people in their 50s and 60s
B.K. Kizziar, RNC, CCM, CLCP, learned the hard way how useful long-term care insurance can be when she had her first knee replacement before the age of 45.
"I needed someone to help with the activities of daily living — the things I wasn’t able to do for myself while I recovered. And, even though I was a case manager for a large payer, I didn’t have benefits to provide custodial care," says Kizziar, owner of B.K. & Associates, a case management consulting firm in Southlake, TX.
As the baby boomer generation ages and human life expectancy continues to increase, the need for your clients to have long-term care insurance is going to be more acute, Kizziar adds.
Medicare and commercial insurers all have strict limits on the number of days in the hospital and seldom pay for home health or other services for patients who don’t have medical needs, she points out.
This often leaves people who need help with their activities of daily living with only a few, expensive options, unless they have family members who are available 24 hours a day.
Kizziar recommends that her younger clients consider purchasing long-term care insurance.
She urges her clients not to wait until they are 65 or 70 years old to start thinking about long-term care. People in their 50s also should look into coverage, she says.
"Premiums are more affordable at age 55 or 60 than at age 70," she points out.
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content