Beware this Long Term Care Insurance Advice..

Today I read an article about long term care insurance that was picked up by the Associated Press, then re-printed on the website newsday.com. The title was “Evaluate Long-Term Care Insurance”.

It didn’t give the author’s name, but I’d like to know it, because this person gives very bad advice. The article states that you should not buy LTCi in your 40’s because there is no guarantee that rates won’t go up.

It also quotes Consumer Reports, Consumer Reports recommends buying coverage at ages 55 and 60 only if you have a chronic condition like diabetes. If you’re healthy, start assessing your needs at age 60 and purchase it by age 65. I’ve seen this repeated elsewhere on the internet and it is dead wrong on some very important issues…

Let me address the more ludicrous of these suggestions first: Don’t consider buying LTCi at ages 55-60 unless you have a chronic health condition???? - - Oh my god.

If you have a chronic health condition your long term care insurance application will most likely be declined! Now this depends upon what kind of condition you have, of course, but chronic illness is a big, red flag to LTC insurance companies. So is smoking or being obese. If you are diabetic, as Consumer Reports says, you will probably be declined if you use insulin. So waiting until you have a chronic condition is the absolute stupidest thing I’ve heard of concerning when to buy LTC insurance.

Let’s look at waiting until you are 65 to buy. How will you know while you are in your 40’s and 50’s if your health will hold out? My husband was 50 and our daughter-in-law was 30 when they were diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Neither one can get long term care insurance.

I bought my LTCi when I was 45. I felt fine enough. No major problems. I rarely even caught a cold or the flu. About year or so later I was diagnosed with Hepatitis B and C. I only took the test because my sister had been diagnosed Hep C from getting a tattoo and since I have one, too, she kept bugging me to get tested, just in case.

Imagine my surprise and horror when the tests came back positive! Thank goodness I had already bought my long term care insurance policy (although I kinda wish I had bought life insurance, too, as it is more likely that I will die from the hepatitis than it is that I’ll need long term care!)

I was not able to keep my health insurance, though. They kept raising my rates until I could not afford it any longer. Now I am one of the millions in this country that have no health insurance, but at least I have LTC insurance. So, if I get hit by a diaper truck and lose the ability to care for myself, at least I’ll be looked after.

But not my husband and not my daughter-in-law, not my aunts who have type 2 diabetes and are now on insulin and not my old friend who was in an accident when he was 35 and became a quadrapalegic.

Christopher Reeves was in his 40’s when he fell off that horse. He died at age 52, but his long term care bills must have been astronomical.

Michael J. Fox was only in his 30’s when he found out he had early onset Parkinson’s. He is able to care for himself pretty well right now, but who knows what anyone’s future with PD holds? Let’s keep him in our prayers, ok? However, if he did not buy LTCi before his diagnosis many years ago, he is now uninsurable and would be declined.

Now, early onset usually occurs before age 40 and affects 1 in 20,000 people. Regular Parkinson’s Disease occurs after age 60 and affects 1 in 10,000 people.

Multiple Sclerosis symptoms usually start anywhere between age 15 and 60, although there are cases that are not diagnosed until later years. Of course, once you are diagnosed, you will be declined for long term care insurance.

About 400,000 people in the U.S. have M.S. and about 200 a week are diagnosed.

About 18 million people in the U.S. has type two diabetes with another 41 million are pre-diabetic.

Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis and diabetes are only 3 health issues. The list goes on and on.

If you wait until you are 60 to start researching long term care insurance and then wait until you are 65 to buy, you are taking a very big risk indeed.

Consumer Reports should be ashamed of themselves.

- Kimberly