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By Laura Eliason, CLTC, Genworth Long Term Care / Smart Women’s Café Contributing Expert

The week of November 5-11 has been declared Long Term Care Awareness Week by the American Association of Long Term Care Insurance.  On a related note, November is National Family Caregivers Month.  But once care giving services are needed, it is probably too late to purchase long term care insurance.  This insurance is one of the most important ways to plan for possible future care.

Many Americans may need long term care at some point in their lives.  Since Medicare and health insurance cover very little long term care, and since many Americans do not yet own long term care insurance, the burden of care giving often falls upon unpaid family caregivers.  Although all long term care needs, by definition, last more than 90 days, many people need help for much longer, sometimes for years.  This can be a significant physical, financial and emotional burden for family caregivers. 

In an effort to encourage Americans to prepare for their future long-term care needs, Long Term Care Awareness Week reminds all of the importance of this planning.  While most people don’t like to think of this aspect of retirement planning, it is just as important as drafting a will or saving for retirement. 

Consider these facts:

• Long term care insurance is the only type of insurance primarily designed to pay for long term care.
• Comprehensive policies from leading insurers can be affordable.  The federal government and many states offer tax incentives to make the insurance even more attractive.  (Speak with your tax advisor.)
• Time is a consumer’s enemy when it comes to long term care planning, because every year that someone delays the purchase of long term care insurance, the premium generally increases. 
• A change in health can make it impossible to qualify for long term care insurance. 
  Consumers are advised to schedule a meeting with a long term care insurance agent to see if long term care insurance makes sense for them. 

Long Term Care Awareness Week sends us all this message: Don’t let another year pass without taking a hard look at how you will pay for your own long term care.
 
Laura Eliason is a licensed long term care insurance agent with an office in Novi, Michigan 248-921-4957
LauraEliason@Genworthltc.com
www.LauraEliasonLTCi.com

By Elaine M. Simpson, Founder/Owner of Senior Options and Services, LLC / Smart Women’s Café Contributing Expert

As a long distance caregiver, you will need to possess and understand critical information involving your parent’s personal, medical, financial, and legal records. Collecting this information is difficult and time consuming.  If you have ever tried to gather and organize your own personal information, you know what a chore it can be. Gathering and organizing this information from far away can seem even more challenging. Maintaining up-to-date information about your parent’s health and medical care, as well as finances, home ownership, and other legal issues, lets you get a handle on what is going on and allows you to respond quickly if there is a crisis.    

Once you have gathered all the information, keep track of all the important documents and correspondence in a binder.  Use dividers to separate medical, financial and legal documents and information.  Getting organized is key. Find all legal and financial documents, including birth certificates, social security cards, marriage or divorce decrees, wills, and power of attorney. Identify bank accounts, titles, sources of income and obligations.  Be sure to include auto, life, homeowner’s and medical insurance papers in the binder. Review these documents for accuracy and update them if necessary. 

Confirm that the power of attorney documents include the now required HIPAA language.  Store the binder in a secure place and keep an additional copy of this binder with you in case of emergency.  

Create a team.  Ask for help from people in your parent’s community, such as other relatives, neighbors, longtime family friends and members of religious, civic, and social organizations. Ask them to let you know immediately if they recognize a possible problem.  

Planning will minimize poor decisions and unnecessary stress. These topics may be difficult or even painful to talk about, but they help ensure that your parent maintains their decision-making authority even when incapacitated.  Addressing these issues before a crisis occurs allows a well thought out plan to be composed which will minimize family disagreements as well as protect the family resources.   If possible, bring the family together for a meeting. Decide with your parent what their primary needs is, who can provide assistance and what community resources would help. Summarize your agreement in writing. Keep in mind that family difficulties are typical and that you may need to bring in a company such as Senior Options and Solutions, a family therapist or social worker to assist through this transition.
  
Keep in mind that the best laid plans may need to be altered.  As your parent’s needs may change, and members of the team will come and go, you will need to be able to adjust and make changes accordingly.
  
The absolute most important thing to remember-
You are no good to anyone if you don’t take care of yourself.  

Maintain good health, make time for yourself, set limits, and allow others to help!

Elaine founded Senior Options and Solutions, LLC after 22 years of working primarily with seniors during housing transitions. So often the stress associated with transitioning an aging loved one is overwhelming and can tear a family apart. Elaine believes in offering knowledge, options, guidance and comfort to minimize the stress and to ensure a smooth transition. Providing resources, assistance and services to our client during their lifestyle transition is our mission. We’ve always enjoyed working with seniors and believe in providing attentive and individualized care to create a present and a future that is comfortable, safe and secure for our aging population. Click here to visit her website.