Your Long Term Care Insurance Benefits
Long term care insurance companies differ in how they pay out benefits. You should be aware of when your benefits begin and how they are administered, before you purchase your long term care insurance.
Does your long term care insurance provider pay a daily benefit amount? You should know what that amount is and if it changes depending on the long term care you receive. For instance, a policy may pay up to $150 a day for nursing home care but $75 a day for a home health aide. Some long term care insurance policies have the same daily benefit amount regardless of the service you choose.
You need to be aware if benefits are paid on an indemnity basis or reimbursement basis. A reimbursement or expense-incurred system pays for the exact cost of a long term care service up to your daily benefit amount. Any money leftover is added back into your long term care insurance policy's benefit funds. An indemnity payment system will give you the total daily benefit amount even if the services you receive cost less than that per day.
It's also crucial to know what your benefit triggers are. What circumstances must be in place before you can receive your long term care insurance benefits? Some long term care insurance companies will need a doctor to recommend long term care for you. You may need to be unable to do a specific number of activities of daily living (ADL's). The onset of Alzheimer's or another cognitive disease may give you a need to begin long term care, as long as your policy does not exclude these types of conditions.
After you receive your quotes obtained through InsuranceBureau's multiple quote request form, you should discuss these details with the long term care insurance representative providing the quote.
Sources
- What features of long-term care policies should I focus on? Retrieved April 24, 2008, from http://www.iii.org/individuals/longtermcare/ltc_features/
|
