| By :
Marilyn Katz
Have you thought about buying long term care insurance? Many Americans are concerned about the rising costs of nursing care. They know it can cost thousands of dollars a month, and that this expense can quickly wipe out a lifetime of savings. They also know that the chances are increasing that they will need nursing care at some point in their lives. This care could be from a nursing home, assisted living facility, or even come to them at their home. It could be from a nurse, home health care worker, or a family member. Either way, there will be costs involved. Even if a family member provides the care, they may lose income from another job they cannot attend to. Long term care insurance policies are still not that popular. A lot of people just do not like the idea of paying for premiums when they may never need to use the benefits. Is this objection valid? Think about your car insurance policy. We pay for car insurance for years. We hope we will never need to use it. Somehow, this seems normal. Maybe it is because we are actually driving our cars and risking an accident every day. Somehow, the need for an auto policy seems more urgent than the need for a nursing care policy. In addition, people do not like to think about a time when they will need nursing care. It seems like an unpleasant topic, and it also seems like something that will happen in a far distant future. The whole subject is also fairly complicated and policies are not standardized. A consumer can choose from a variety of coverage amounts and ways they plan to get their nursing care. Choices are good, but it can make the decision about which policy to buy very confusing and stressful. There are, however, a couple of alternative ways to plan for nursing care. I think this option can be very popular with people because it provides other benefits. I think this option will become more popular. People do not have to pay for a policy that will not have any benefits if they never need nursing care. You can find annuities with long term care riders. If the annuity owner never needs to use this policy feature, the beneficiaries can still collect. This means that the whole contribution towards the annuity account will not be lost. Besides, the annuity will also provide financial benefits for a person who is trying to plan for a comfortable retirement. A similar rider can be found on some life insurance policies. The rider will kick in so the insured person can use a percentage of the face value to help pay for nursing care. If the insured person never needs care, the beneficiaries can still collect the face value of the policy. This may be a flexible choice. The insured person may need to use some of the death benefit, but there could also be cash left over to leave to the beneficiaries. There are different ways to plan for nursing care needs you may have in the future. Long term care insurance is one answer. There are other answers too.
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