Share Nearly two-thirds of Americans over age 65 will need long term care at home, through adult day health care, or in an assisted living facility or nursing home. Earlier this spring, Genworth Financial embarked on a pretty ambitious study – to determine the true cost of long term care. In September they published their [...]
Read More »Long Term Care News & Views
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Rating Top Long Term Care Insurance Providers
Share We’ve shared long term care insurance ratings in previous posts, posts that have been far and away our most popular. While the long term care industry has improved by leaps and bounds over the past decade, people still want to know who they are buying insurance from. We thought we would provide a summary [...]
Read More »What Google Images Thinks of Long Term Care Insurance
Share Have you ever hit the “I’m feeling lucky” button on Google Search? It’s always good for a laugh or two. Not exactly something you’d do while searching for long term care insurance (of course, we just did it…and it sent us directly to longtermcareinsurance.org) but searching Google Images on “long term care insurance” was [...]
Read More »The True Cost of Long Term Care
Nearly two-thirds of Americans over age 65 will need long term care at
home, through adult day health care, or in an assisted living facility or
nursing home.
Earlier this spring, Genworth Financial embarked on a pretty ambitious study – to determine the true cost of long term care. In September they published their results in an extensive, well-written and well supported (with facts) publication, titled “Beyond Caring – The True Impact of Long Term Caring”.
As I was reading through the study, I kept thinking about my parents, who are in the unplanned situation of taking care of two frail, aging mothers (one who is in assisted living, the other in a nursing home.) Over the past few years, I’ve witnessed the growing strain this has taken on my parents, other relatives and even close friends.
What Genworth has written here is very real. The cost of long term care goes far beyond money and I think that’s extremely important for everyone to be aware of.
No matter how willing we are, no matter how heartfelt our promises are, our caregiving commitments can affect marriages, family dynamics, work commitments, financial stability and other building blocks of our own futures.
We’ve discussed the financial costs of long term care in this blog before, but this study breaks it down even further, looking at the financial impact to primary and secondary caregivers (both of which are clearly defined):
- 83% Contributed financially – an average $8,800 for out-of-pocket care expenses
- (excludes cost of facility care)
- 57% Had to dip into their own retirement funds and/or savings
- 29% Borrowed money, took out a reverse mortgage and/or sold their home
- 63% Reported lost income – an average of 23% of household income
- 61% Reduced their savings by an average of 63%
- 40% Reduced family vacations
- 45% Cut back on their own family expenses
There’s so much in this study to disseminate, and we’ll be writing about it more on our long term care insurance blog very soon. In the meantime, we highly recommend everyone take the time to read through this study. It’s an eye-opening, and honest, look at the impact a long term care event can have on family, friends and the surrounding community.
CLICK HERE to view the PDF – Beyond Dollars – Long Term Care Costs
Rating Top Long Term Care Insurance Providers
We've shared long term care insurance ratings in previous posts, posts that have been far and away our most popular. While the long term care industry has improved by leaps and bounds over the past decade, people still want to know who they are buying insurance from. We thought ...
What Google Images Thinks of Long Term Care Insurance
Have you ever hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button on Google Search? It's always good for a laugh or two. Not exactly something you'd do while searching for long term care insurance (of course, we just did it...and it sent us directly to longtermcareinsurance.org) but searching Google Images on "long term care insurance" was ...