Elderly Home Care and Long-Term Care Insurance.

If you have found yourself in the situation of having to hire a caregiver for your loved one at home then you know how expensive it can be. Suddenly mom or dad has a stroke and you are responsible for taking care of them when they leave the hospital. You have a job, a family and a mortgage to pay, maybe you even have children at home or one or two in college. So where is the money going to come from.

What I learned in my job was that many elderly people think that Social Security and Medicare will take care of all their needs when they retire - wrong! Social security will get you something, but most likely it will be a nursing home that you wouldn't put your dog in. When the government made their plans people didn't live as long as they do now. We have extended our life expectancy about 10 to 15 years and most people do not have enough retirement income to meet their needs for this many years.

As a case manager I have seen many long term care facilities, there are some good ones and some bad ones. The good ones are expensive and are not covered by your medical insurance. Home caregivers can be very expensive if you have skilled needs such as feeding tubes or ventilators.

Unless you want to spend all of your money, the best solution is to get long-term care insurance. This insurance will provide for a nursing facility or caregivers in your home, some will even pay a family member to care for the person at home. This type of insurance has now been around for a while and insurance companies are now coming up with a variety of options for affordable policies. An important thing to note is that the yearly cost can double from the time you are 55 (around 700-800/yr) to the time you are 65 (around 1400-1600/year) and may be more expensive if you are already diagnosed with a pre-existing condition. Special Federal Long Term Care plans are available to all federal and postal employees.