It seems that every week I hear about another friend or collegue that has had (at best) to adjust their life, or (at worst) completely alter their life because of an aging parent’s need for care.
My own family is involved in a situation currently that has caused me to reflect on the question of how things might be different if a parent were to have long term care coverage. One of my parents is currently recovering from a life threatening condition, and while his recovery would not fall under long term care, it has made me realize the effects of children caring for their parents.
As is often the case, either due to family dynamics or, as in our case geography, one child is left to shoulder most of the burden of care. I just returned from a week at my brothers’ family’s home across the county, where my father is recuperating, and saw first hand the level of stress, potential loss of income due to less time to work, as well as the emotional toll that is caused when a child is responsible for the care of a parent.
I watched as my brother and his wife (who have three small children of their own) tried to juggle the constant care of my father with their own lives (work, caring for their kids, keeping a house running). The potential loss of income from losing time at work, the stress it places on a family and the emotional drain is all too real. Often I hear from others about the difficulties their own parents have accepting care from their children, in particular the physical needs tend to be the most difficult to accept (feeding, bathing, transporting etc.). There is a loss of dignity that comes with a child providing these things to a parent. So much of this could have been avoided if the parent had a long term care policy that allowed them to remain at home, receive care from paid professionals, and allowed the children to simply care about the parent as opposed to caring for them.
While we cannot turn back the hands of time and purchase policies for all of our aging parents, we can learn from the mistake by exploring the option of obtaining long term care insurance coverage when we are still young enough and healthy enough. If you are a caregiver please visit our Caregivers Resource Center for further information.
Long Term Care Insurance a shoppers guide to long term care insurance, about long term care insurance, assisted living insurance, average cost of long term care insurance, average long term care insurance, care insurance assisted living, do i need long term care insurance, future of long term care, insurance for long term care, long term care, Long Term Care Insurance, long term care insurance age, long term care insurance and, long term care insurance consumer, long term care insurance deductibility, long term care insurance guide, long term care insurance need, long term care insurance partnership, long term care insurance program, long term care issues, long term care ltc insurance, long term care options, long term care rate, long term health care, long term home care, long term home care insurance, ltc, ltci, of long term care, of long term care insurance, private long term care insurance
