Try: Elder law attorneys help people prepare for the time when they or their loved ones will face issues such as aging incapacity disability professional long term care and death specialists in this area of law understand the difficult conversations and decisions made during these life transitions they advocate for and educate individuals about their rights and options what do elder law attorneys do elder law attorneys focus on the legal needs of the elderly and work with a variety of legal tools and techniques to meet the goals and objectives of the older client elder law attorneys handle general estate planning issues and counsels clients about planning for incapacity with alternative decision making documents the attorney would also assist the client in planning for possible long-term care needs including nursing home care locating the appropriate type of care coordinating private and public resources to finance the cost of care and working to ensure the client’s rights to quality care are all part of the elder law practice information references "guide to legal and financial planning needs of seniors" by homewatch care givers available at www homewatchcaregivers com

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Keywords: Law legal issues attorney lawyer

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed

Try: An elder law attorney can help people complete documents designed to protect financial interests and assets as well as help people plan for their future putting these documents together will take some time but families find it fosters honest conversation and promotes feelings of security for all involved in the process preservation transfer of assets seeking to avoid spousal impoverishment when a spouse enters a nursing home elder law attorneys handle a variety of activities and cases below is a list of those activities medicaid medicare claims and appeals social security and disability claims and appeals supplemental and long-term health insurance issues disability planning including use of durable powers of attorney living trusts "living wills" for financial management and health care decisions and other means of delegating management and decision-making to another in case of incompetency or incapacity conservatorships and guardianships estate planning including planning for the management of one’s estate during life and its disposition on death through the use of trusts wills and other planning documents probate administration and management of trusts and estates long-term care placements in nursing home and life care communities nursing home issues including questions of patients’ rights and nursing home quality elder abuse and fraud recovery cases housing issues including discrimination and home equity conversions age discrimination in employment retirement including public and private retirement benefits survivor benefits and pension benefits health law mental health law information references "guide to legal and financial planning needs of seniors" by homewatch care givers available at www homewatchcaregivers com

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Keywords: Law legal issues attorney lawyer

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed

Try: Long-term care is a variety of services and supports to meet health or personal care needs over an extended period of time most long-term care is non-skilled personal care assistance such as help performing everyday activities of daily living adls activities of daily living these activities include bathing transferring to or from bed or chair dressing caring for incontinence and using the toilet eating the goal of long-term care services is to help you maximize your independence and functioning at a time when you are unable to be fully independent typical services covered by long term care insurance home care and home health care community care like adult day care or residential care facilities assisted living facilities nursing homes information references "guide to legal and financial planning needs of seniors" by homewatch care givers available at www homewatchcaregivers com

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Keywords: Long term care health care activities of daily living insurance

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed

Try: Virtually all policies now cover alzheimer alzheimer’s disease and no longer require a hospital stay before paying nursing home benefits different options are available under different policies these are eligibility if you are in reasonably good health and can take care of yourself and if you are between the ages of 18 and 84 you can probably buy long-term care insurance some companies do not sell individual policies to people under age 18 or over age 84 age limitations apply only to your age at the time of purchase not at the time you use the benefits duration or dollar limitations of benefits long-term care policies generally limit benefits to a maximum dollar amount or a maximum number of days and may have separate benefit limits for nursing home assisted living facility and home health care within the same policy for example a policy may offer 100 per day up to five years of nursing home coverage many policies now offer lifetime nursing home coverage and only up to 80 per day up to five years of assisted living and home health care coverage nonforfeiture benefits this benefit returns to policyholders some of their benefits if they drop their coverage most companies now offer this option the most common types of nonforfeiture benefits offered today are return of premium or a shortened benefit period with a return of premium benefit the policyholder receives cash usually a percent of the total premiums paid to date after lapse or death with a shortened benefit period the long-term care coverage continues but the benefit period or duration amount is reduced as specified in the policy a nonforfeiture benefit can add from 20 to 100 percent to a policy policy’s cost some policies may offer contingent nonforfeiture benefits upon lapse a feature that gives policyholders additional options in the face of a significant increase in policy premiums if you do not purchase the optional nonforfeiture benefit then a contingent nonforfeiture benefit is triggered if policy premiums rise by a specified percentage for example if at age 70 your premium rises to 40 percent above the original premium you have the option of either decreasing the amount your policy pays per day of care or of converting to a policy with a shorter duration of benefits waiver of premium this provision allows you to stop paying premiums during the time you are receiving benefits read the policy carefully to see if there are any restrictions on this provision such as a requirement to be in a nursing home for any length of time 90 days is a typical requirement or receiving home health care before premiums are waived disclosure your medical history is very important because the insurance company uses the information you provide on your application to assess your eligibility for coverage the application must be accurate and complete if it is not the insurance company may be within its rights to deny coverage when you file a claim in fact many companies now waive the preexisting condition requirement if you fully disclose your medical history and are issued a policy information references "guide to long-term care ltc insurance" by america’s health insurance plans 2004 available at www pueblo gsa gov

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Keywords: Long term care insurance insurance policy insurance premiums

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed

Try: The national association of insurance commissioners has developed standards that protect consumers you should look for a policy that includes at least one year of nursing home or home health care coverage including intermediate and custodial care nursing home or home health care benefits should not be limited primarily to skilled care coverage for alzheimer alzheimer’s disease should the policyholder develops it after purchasing the policy an inflation protection option the policy should offer a choice among automatically increasing the initial benefit level on an annual basis a guaranteed right to increase benefit levels periodically without providing evidence of insurability an outline of coverage that systematically describes the policy policy’s benefits limitations and exclusions and also allows you to compare it with others a long-term care insurance shopper shopper’s guide that helps you decide whether long-term care insurance is appropriate for you your company or agent should provide both of these a guarantee that the policy cannot be canceled nonrenewed or otherwise terminated because you get older or suffer deterioration in physical or mental health the right to return the policy within 30 days after you have purchased the policy and to receive a premium refund no requirement that policyholders first be hospitalized in order to receive nursing home benefits or home health care benefits first receive skilled nursing home care before receiving intermediate or custodial nursing home care first receive nursing home care before receiving benefits for home health care information references "guide to long-term care ltc insurance" by america’s health insurance plans 2004 available at www pueblo gsa gov

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Keywords: Long term care insurance insurance policy insurance premiums

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed

Try: Before you begin shopping you should find out how much nursing home or home health care costs in your area today if you needed care right away could you find it locally or would you have to go to another potentially more expensive area once you’ve done some research you can use the following checklist to help you compare policies you may be considering what services are covered nursing home care home health care assisted living facility adult daycare alternate care respite care other how much does the policy pay per day for nursing home care for home health care for an assisted living facility for adult daycare for alternate care for respite care other how long will benefits last in a nursing home at home in an assisted living facility other does the policy have a maximum lifetime benefit if so what is it for nursing home care for home health care for an assisted living facility other does the policy have a maximum length of coverage for each period of confinement if so what is it for nursing home care for home health care for an assisted living facility how long must i wait before preexisting conditions are covered how many days must i wait before benefits begin for nursing home care for home health care for an assisted living facility other are alzheimer alzheimer’s disease and other organic mental and nervous disorders covered does this policy require an assessment of activities of daily living an assessment of cognitive impairment physician certification of need a prior hospital stay for nursing home care home health care a prior nursing home stay for home health care coverage other is the policy guaranteed renewable what is the age range for enrollment is there a waiver-of-premium provision for nursing home care for home health care how long must i be confined before premiums are waived does the policy have a nonforfeiture benefit does the policy offer an inflation adjustment feature if so what is the rate of increase how often is it applied for how long is there an additional cost what does the policy cost per year with inflation feature without inflation feature with nonforfeiture feature without nonforfeiture feature per month with inflation feature without inflation feature with nonforfeiture feature without nonforfeiture feature is there a 30-day free look information references "guide to long-term care ltc insurance" by america’s health insurance plans 2004 available at www pueblo gsa gov

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Keywords: Long term care insurance insurance policy insurance premiums checklist

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed

Try: The cost of long-term care insurance varies widely depending on the options you choose for example inflation adjustments can add between 40 and more than 100 percent to your premium however this option can keep benefits in line with the current cost of care premiums the actual premium you will pay depends on many factors including your age the level of benefits and the length of time you are willing to wait until benefits begin a licensed long-term care insurance agent or a financial advisor can help in balancing policy features and premium cost premiums generally remain the same each year unless they are increased for an entire class of policyholders at once that means that the younger you are when you first buy a policy the lower your annual premium will be benefits the amount of your premium also depends on the amount of the daily benefit and how long you wish that benefit to be paid for example a policy that pays 100 a day for up to five years of long-term care costs more than a policy that pays 50 a day for three years elimination or deductible periods elimination or deductible periods are the number of days you must be in residence at a nursing home or the number of home care visits you must receive before policy benefits begin for instance with a 20-day elimination period your policy will begin paying benefits on the twenty-first day most policies offer a choice of deductible ranging from zero to 180 days the longer the elimination or deductible period the lower the premium however longer elimination periods also mean higher out-of-pocket costs for instance if have a policy with a 100-day waiting period and you go to a nursing home for a year you must pay for 100 days of care if your stay costs 150 a day your total cost would be 15 000 with a 30-day elimination period your cost would be only 4 500 when you’re considering a long-term care policy you should determine not just how much you can pay for premiums but also how long you could pay for your own care information references "guide to long-term care ltc insurance" by america’s health insurance plans 2004 available at www pueblo gsa gov

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Keywords: Long term care insurance insurance policy insurance premiums

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed

Try: What do long-term care insurance policies cover long-term care services are provided when a person cannot perform certain activities of daily living adls or is cognitively impaired because of senile dementia or alzheimer alzheimer’s disease most commonly the adls used to determine the need for services include bathing dressing transferring getting from a bed to a chair toileting eating and continence today today’s policies cover skilled intermediate and custodial care in state-licensed nursing homes long-term care policies usually also cover home care services such as skilled or nonskilled nursing care physical therapy homemakers and home health aides provided by state-licensed and or medicare-certified home health agencies many policies also cover assisted living adult daycare and other care in the community alternate care and respite care for the caregiver alternate care is nonconventional care and services developed by a licensed health care practitioner that serve as an alternative to more costly nursing home care benefits for alternate care may be available for special medical care and treatments different sites of care or medically necessary modifications to the insured insured’s home like building ramps for wheelchairs or modifications to a kitchen or bathroom a health care professional develops the alternate plan of care the insured or insurer may initiate the plan and the insurer approves it the benefit amount paid for alternate care would reduce the maximum or lifetime benefit available for later confinement in a long-term care facility policies may limit the expenses covered under this benefit for instance 60 percent of the lifetime maximum limit information references "guide to long-term care ltc insurance" by america’s health insurance plans 2004 available at www pueblo gsa gov

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Keywords: Long term care insurance nursing home home health aides

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed

Try: Long-term care can be very expensive and the real amount you will spend depends on the level of services you need and the length of time you need care one year in a nursing home can average more than 50 000 in some regions it can easily cost twice that amount home care is less expensive but it still adds up bringing an aide into your home just three times a week two to three hours per visit to help with dressing bathing preparing meals and similar household chores can easily cost 1 000 each month or 12 000 a year add in the cost of skilled help such as physical therapists and these costs can be much greater the average monthly fee assisted living facilities charge is around 2 000 this includes rent and most additional fees some residents in the facility may pay significantly more if their care needs are higher information references "guide to long-term care ltc insurance" by america’s health insurance plans 2004 available at www pueblo gsa gov

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Keywords: Long term care insurance nursing home home health aides

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed

Try: Several types of policies are available most are known as indemnity or expense incurred policies indemnity or per diem policy an indemnity or per diem policy pays up to a fixed benefit amount regardless of what you spend with an expense-incurred policy you choose the benefit amount when you buy the policy and you are reimbursed for actual expenses for services received up to a fixed dollar amount per day week or month policies with pooled benefits today many companies also offer integrated policies or policies with pooled benefits this type of policy provides a total dollar amount that may be used for different types of long-term care services there is usually a daily weekly or monthly dollar limit for your covered long-term care expenses for example say you purchase a policy with a maximum benefit amount of 150 000 of pooled benefits under this policy you would have a daily benefit of 150 that would last for 1 000 days if you spend the maximum daily amount on care if however your care costs less you would receive benefits for more than 1 000 days benefit pay outs there are no policies that guarantee to cover all expenses fully you usually have a choice of daily benefit amounts ranging from 50 to more than 300 per day for nursing home coverage the daily benefit for at-home care may be less than the benefit for nursing home care it it’s important to keep in mind that you are responsible for your actual nursing home or home care costs that exceed the daily benefit amount you purchased because the per-day benefit you buy today may not be enough to cover higher costs years from now most policies offer inflation adjustments in many policies for example the initial benefit amount will increase automatically each year at a specified rate such as 5 percent compounded over the life of the policy long term care in life insurance policies some life insurance policies offer long-term care benefits with these accelerated or living benefits provisions under certain circumstances a portion of the life insurance benefit is paid to the policyholder for long-term care services instead of to the beneficiary at the policyholder policyholder’s death some companies make these benefits available to all policyholders; others offer them only to people buying new policies information references "guide to long-term care ltc insurance" by america’s health insurance plans 2004 available at www pueblo gsa gov

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Keywords: Long term care insurance insurance policy life insurance

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed