A few months ago, I shared some opinions about planning for a long duration situation. In fact, I shared my family’s story. So, yeah, making sure that you have a plan for a long duration care situation is important!
That is why Asset Care and Annuity Care offer the option for an unlimited duration of benefits that can last a lifetime. And, OneAmerica Financial is the only carrier in the asset-base / linked benefit LTC space that offers this type of coverage.
I am confident that someone out there will say, “lifetime doesn’t matter, the average person is unlikely to require care more than X number of years” or “saying the benefits are unlimited is deceptive” or “you throw money away when you buy more insurance than you need”.
I’ll accept the comments as your opinion. Here is why I believe in an unlimited duration of benefits that can last a lifetime … my family’s story.
Until your mother gives up her career to take on the role of caregiver and you surrender your bedroom to your great aunts or your grandparents have to spend a bulk of their hard-earned money on care rather than fulfilling their plans to pay for their grandchildren’s college, your opinion about durations of care falls on deaf ears.
So, let’s talk about averages versus unlimited duration. And, going back to my family’s history. I will compare our average experience versus what the industry says is average.
| Industry Average | Family Average | |
| Male experience | 2.2 years | 4.7 years |
| Female experience | 3.8 years | 9.3 years |
| Alzheimer’s experience | 8+ years | 15.5 years |
Looking at my personal experience (excluding my parents who are still alive, almost 80, and healthy at this point), deploying a plan using only averages would have been insufficient. And, the end result would still have been a massive
Let’s say that each month, care cost is $10,000 (I’m just using simple math to prove a point). Using the industry average as a baseline, a pool of $300,000 would have been adequate for any of the men in the family; unfortunately, the real cost was over $550,000. And for the women, that gap was even greater!
I hope you get the point that I am trying to make here … accepting averages can lead to disappointment if there is not a complete plan in place.
Remember, if the plan calls for cost-sharing where the insurance and self-funding are the strategy, that is all good. But, using averages can be dangerous if the plan is not well designed.
It’s like watching the coyote chase the roadrunner. They are going like hell then the roadrunner (the LTC policy) abruptly turns to the left (benefits run out) and the coyote keeps plowing forward and running off the cliff (paying 100% of the cost from their own resources).
It is important to have a plan (preferably a funded plan) that shares one’s vision for how they want things to be executed when an extended care event happens. Here are a couple of tools from OneAmerica Financial that might help in that conversation …
Step by Step Guide to Receiving Long Term Care (consumer approved)
Care Planning Worksheet (consumer approved)
As always, if you want more information or assistance with Care Solutions, contact Justin Fox at (844) 658-3725 or justinfox.isp@oneamerica.com, or Nick Angelov at (844) 623-4251 or nick.angelov.isp@oneamerica.com, or myself at (678) 512-9627 or kevin.fisher@oneamerica.com
Fridays with Fisher 