The top reasons people purchase long term care insurance are: protect their assets, gain peace of mind, and not be a burden on their family and/or children. But not all families include children. The odds of needing some form of long term care in the future do not discriminate by marital status, income level or any other demographic. Often times people will “default” to having their children provide care, so for families without children this creates a higher need to plan ahead for a long term care event.
Facing a long term care situation is never easy, but these challenges are more intimidating in certain respects for families without children. Becoming educated about your options, making your wishes clear to your spouse or partner, and deciding how you want to financially address a long term care event early on can help big time in the end.
Not only do you face a risk of needing care, but you may also be faced with becoming a caregiver yourself. With no children of your own to care for, your parents place a higher expectation on you for tending to their needs. This can be an eye opener to the financial and emotional challenges of a long term care event. You may also bear more of the risk of caring for your spouse or partner without an adult child “on call” in the event care is needed.
Having a long term care insurance policy ear marks money specifically for a long term care event, taking off the added pressure that you may face. The policies also feature care coordination services. These provide the insured and their family with a host of local private and public services to help in the event of care being needed.
We recommend people have a plan in place before age 60 which will list out who provides care and how that care is paid for, regardless if there are children involved.
LTC Consumer is an independent, free online service to help consumers understand what long term care insurance is, how it works, and how to evaluate coverage options. Our mission is to provide an educational, no-pressure resource for learning about long term care planning, with the opportunity to speak with specialists who can help them.
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