Long term care is a variety of services and supports to meet health or personal care needs over an extended period of time. While long term care is often associated with nursing homes, the truth is that most care is actually provided at home.
Nearly two out of every three Americans will need assistance with activities of daily living, such as bathing, walking, dressing and toileting, at some point in their lives whether due to illness or disability. Someone turning age 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing LTC in the future. (1)
Many people want to maintain their quality of life and independence while receiving long term care benefits. A variety of health care services make it possible to age in place and remain at home while receiving care.
The financial impact of long term care expenses can have a drastic impact on your savings, potentially reducing or even eliminating the amount of assets you’re able to pass to your heirs. Today’s average total LTC cost is $266,000 per person.2 According to the 2019 Cost of Care Survey conducted by Genworth Financial, the annual median cost for home health aide in Alabama increased by 5.88% from 2018 to 2019. (6)
More than 90% of Americans plan to self-insure against the risk of LTC costs.4 There may be a better way to pay for LTC expenses than relying on your retirement savings. Proper planning can minimize the negative impact the cost of LTC could potentially have on your estate and legacy. Today’s life insurance can provide death benefit protection as well as flexible long term care coverage.
If you need long term care, how will you pay for it?
Long Term Care Statistics
- Approx 37% of individuals receiving LTC are ages 64 or less (LTC.gov) (4)
- 6 in 10 adults have a chronic disease and 4 in 10 have 2 or more (Center for Disease Control & Prevention, June 13, 2019) (5)
- Annual Cost of Care in Alabama (2019 “What Care Costs” annual survey)
- $41,184 Average Annual Cost of Home Health Care based on 40 hours per week of home health care by a Home Health Aide (6)
- $81,395 Average Annual Cost for a private room in a nursing home (6)
Sources
- US Dept of Health & Human Services, longtermcare.gov as of 10/17/2017.
- Financial Risks Due to Long-Term Care, “Deloitte and Advanced Analytical Consulting Group on behalf of the US Dept of Labor, 2016.
- Less than 8% of Americans have insurance for long term care. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Health Policy Snapshot “Long Term Care: What are the issues? Feb. 2014.
- https://longtermcare.acl.gov/the-basics/
- https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/infographic/chronic-diseases.htm
- https://www.genworth.com/aging-and-you/finances/cost-of-care.html
