If your parents are ready for long-term care, an assisted care facility or nursing home, or home health services, now is the time to understand their long-term care (LTC) insurance policy. But LTC policies are complicated and complex—and they’re actually designed to be difficult to understand. So where do you start?
Here are six questions to help you and your parents ensure you get the LTC benefits they deserve.
1. What services are covered?
One of the most important questions to ask is definitely what services are covered by the policy. The number of possible long-term and elder care services varies widely—and not all of these are covered by all policies.
Make sure you are clear about which services are covered by your parents’ policy before you begin submitting claims.
2. What facilities are covered?
Many policies were written when nursing homes were the most common—or even the only—possible facility for long-term care. But today, more insureds are more likely to seek assisted care instead.
Look for qualifications about which types of facilities are covered before your parents make a big move.
3. What limits or exclusions are present?
Even if certain services are included in your parents’ insurance policy, there may be limits or exclusions on how they’re actually covered.
Before hiring a home health provider, moving to a long-term care facility, or planning other LTC services, make sure you have a clear understanding of what’s fully covered.
4. Is there an elimination period?
Most policies include an elimination period or waiting period, which is the amount of time between the initial need for covered LTC benefits and when the policy begins covering those costs.
Typically between 30 and 90 days—but up to one year—insureds (or their family members) will be responsible for paying those costs out-of-pocket for that period.
5. Who is the insurance carrier?
Plenty of carriers who issued LTC insurance policies years ago are no longer even in business. You need to make sure you know who to contact, where to submit claims, and how to ensure your parents get the right LTC benefits each month.
6. Is there anything we’re missing?
LTC policies are confusing! In fact, it can feel like you need an advanced degree just to read it. Luckily, the experienced team at Family Solutions for Care has read thousands of policies to help families get the LTC benefits they’re entitled to.
Contact us today for a FREE policy review or to get more information about how we can support your family in managing your LTC benefits each and every month.
