* Great Genes Aren’t a Safety Net

You might think that having long-lived ancestors means you won’t need long term care and long term care insurance. But it’s time to think again!

Strong health and longevity genes do not protect one against the need for long term care. They sure help, but they can’t guarantee that you will not end up in an assisted living, nursing home or home care situation.

A couple reasons why:

1) As we age, our bodies wear out. Even though technology is getting closer to creating bionic humans, we still are some way off from having truly replaceable parts. Plus, if a hip wears out at age 80, a person may be too fragile to undergo a replacement surgery. If you can’t walk, you’ll need care.

2) Accidents. People have accidents and accidents can cause unrecoverable injuries.

Last night my son called. He told me, a bit belatedly so as not to worry me, that he had gotten into a rather serious car accident last December. His SUV was totaled. Onlookers couldn’t believe it, but thankfully, he was not badly hurt and neither was the other driver. I asked him if he had full auto insurance, which he did, and since he also has very good health insurance he didn’t have to pay any money for the ambulance ride and emergency hospital visit.

He then went on to tell me that he had learned at a young age how important insurance can be. I believe his words were that he is insured “up the rear” .

OK, then. So eloquent.

He also told me (again) that he has long term care insurance…even though he probably doesn’t need it since he is only in his 30’s. My response was that he might have needed LTC insurance had that accident caused a spinal cord injury. His response, “I’d eat a bullet first!”

Is that a guy thing?

So, even though my son has long term care insurance, he still doesn’t want to use it. And that’s pretty typical, as was his emotional outburst. Clay can’t remember all the times people have said that they’d do themselves in if they ever need long term care.

But realistically, it’s pretty hard to shoot yourself if you can’t move your arms…

So, thank your stars if you have longevity genes, but also get your LTC insurance.

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