Did You Know?

Until recently, private funds or long-term care insurance had been the only ways to finance long-term care like skilled nursing homes, assisted living facilities or home health aides, which are not covered by traditional health insurance. However, a new option is now available. According to the online financial resource NerdWallet, for those concerned about the financial risk of buying long-term care insurance and never using it, combination long-term care/life insurance policies may be better options. Depending on the policy, a portion of the funds can be used for long-term care that's equal to several times the premium payments. This results is a reduced death benefit, depending on how much of the long-term care benefit was used. Some policies even guarantee a small percentage of the death benefit, even if all the money allocated for long-term care was used. The American Association of Long-Term Care Insurance said that more than 350,000 Americans purchased long-term care coverage in 2018 and roughly 84 percent of these purchases were for hybrid or combination life insurance. A much smaller percentage were traditional long-term care policies, showing the trend toward this growing insurance market. Hybrid products may have lower premiums, and they can be paid in a lump sum or over several years. For those who do not tap into the long-term care savings, the policy will still pay out a death benefit to beneficiaries.