What Is the Value of Long-Term Care Insurance?
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What Is the Value of Long-Term Care Insurance?
Some background
Unlike life insurance, the insurance industry does not have many decades of experience with long-term care (LTC) insurance coverage. There have been well-founded complaints about LTC insurance primarily based on policies written prior to the mid-1990s, when LTC insurance coverage was in its infancy.
Things To Know
- Long-term care policies have limitations on coverage and may not totally cover your costs if a claim is made.
Insurers have admitted the weaknesses in the design of early policies and taken steps to correct them. However, some of these problems have persisted, and the consumer is urged to be wary of the products offered. Due diligence is the watchword.
Policies have changed
Long-term care policies sold today are quite different from those sold fifteen or twenty years ago. Commentators on LTC insurance sometimes overlook that point. It is worth noting that the federal and some state governments are actively promoting LTC insurance as a planning option among their own employees.
Despite these significant improvements, a long-term care policy is still insurance. Like virtually all types of insurance, LTC policies have limitations on coverage and may not totally cover your costs if a claim is made. Furthermore, as with homeowners’, auto, or other insurance policies, it is quite possible to pay premiums for years and never make a claim.