November is Long-Term Care Awareness Month. To mark the occasion, here are 10 interesting facts about long term care insurance.
# 10 – 67.4 percent of all new claims started after the policyholder reached age 80. If you live a long life, you’re likely going to need long term care and be very glad you have a policy to pay benefits.
# 9 – 49.0 percent of all new individual long-term care insurance benefits for newly opened claims paid for home care. Only a fourth (27%) of new claims paid for nursing home care.
# 8 – 45.0 percent of those who applied for long-term care insurance between ages 70 and 79 were declined coverage for health reasons. If you already have this protection in place, congratulate yourself. If you don’t, please don’t wait because your health can change at any point.
# 7 – 28.2 percent of nursing home residents over the age of 85 have been in the facility for three years or longer.
# 6 – Alzheimer’s disease was the leading reason someone used their long-term care insurance for either home health care or nursing home care. Stroke was number two for home health care.
# 5 – Nearly one in five (20%) of those receiving benefits from their long-term care insurance transferred from home health care to a facility.
# 4 – The largest open long-term care insurance claim for a woman has exceeded $1.5 million in paid benefits. Her claim has lasted almost 14 years and started after she paid about $2,500 in total premium.
# 3 – Women accounted for 64 percent of all newly opened long term care insurance claims.
# 2 – Over 85 percent of women age 85 or older will be living alone.
# 1 – The long-term care insurance industry paid out $6.1 billion in benefits to some 200,000 individuals with insurance protection in 2010. The number will increase each year as the current number of policyholders grow older and, as a result, are more likely to begin their claim.
If you already have your long-term care insurance plan in place, congratulations. If not, why not contact us today for no-obligation information.
