Families reap benefits of long-term care insurance

JILL KREITMAN

As I drove towards my mother's house in Tucson, my mind was racing, thinking about how our family's lives had just changed in a matter of an hour.

My mother has always been healthy, the matriarch of our family, an unending source of support, love and wisdom. At 64, she is still full of life, a "typical Jewish mom," worrying about everything and everyone but herself.

Then we learned she was diagnosed with macular degeneration - she is slowly but surely losing her eyesight. Now we are faced with something that would not take her life, but would take away her independence and render the need for care a real probability for years to come.

As Jews we are taught to honor our mother and father and that we are responsible for one another. My mother's case would be no different.

My heart sank as reality set in. Eventually, Mom would need full-time care.

I don't live right down the street from my mom - I live two hours away. As a single mother of two, I work full time to support my children. Rebecca, my oldest, is studying for her bat mitzvah. Just yesterday, their Bubbe assisted me in their caregiving, and now she was going to need us.

Knowing Mom, she would not want to leave her house and community. As long as she can still get around, she could probably stay home and have someone come in and help with her daily living tasks, medications and chores. When she totally loses her sight, she may need 24-hour supervision to be safe. Even if she moved into my house, I am gone during the day. Should I quit my job? Could I take a family leave of absence and for how long? In reality she may need care for the next 20 years.

I was relieved to know that there are Jewish home care options and, as a last resort, Jewish assisted living facilities available, where she can still have kosher meals, and participate religiously and culturally as a Jew.

Long-term care insurance was not something I had paid attention to. I vaguely recall my mother bringing it up a couple years ago, wanting me to meet with her and an agent. I didn't go to the meeting as I thought it was a waste of time and money. We are a family, I remember thinking, I will take care of her. Besides, she was young and healthy.

"I've found that people are completely unprepared to handle the experience of caregiving and long-term care," says Steven Jacobson, a financial adviser who has gone through a similar process in his own life. Most don't realize the importance and the necessity of long-term care planning, he explains.

"Caregiving costs more than it used to," Jacobson says. Long-term care planning is "really important because people really do run out of money."

After digesting the devastating news, I went home and took out her long-term care insurance policy. As I began to read the outline of coverage, I felt more relief with every paragraph. I learned it is designed for anyone needing assistance with daily living.

What I really discovered is that Mom, in her infinite wisdom, forever the mensch, had provided the answer and means for all of us as to who would care for her and how it would be paid. I learned her policy would mean the world of difference between quality of care, our options and our peace-of-mind.

Policy coverage included:

Care provisions: Care can be provided at home or otherwise, such as a nursing home. It will pay 100 percent daily benefit for any place of care.
Care providers: Services can be provided by a RN, LPN, LVN, medical social worker or home-health aide worker. Anyone can be used for home health aid - they don't necessarily have to be employed with an agency.
Other benefits: Enhanced home-care benefits including skilled nursing and therapies, homemaker services, medical equipment and home modifications. Also included for home care is unskilled care that can help with meal preparation, nutritional services, medication dispensing, housework, grooming and chores.
Tax provisions: Plans are tax-qualified. Medical expenses may be itemized, thus allowing premiums and other benefits.
Return on investment: A Return Of Premium Rider says that when the policyholder passes away, 100 percent of the premiums paid into the policy minus any claims will be returned to a beneficiary.
Length of care: Mom has a lifetime, unlimited plan. If she needs care for the next 20, 30 years her benefits will never stop. She has an inflation benefit built in that will increase her benefits automatically by 5 percent every year.
Premiums: Once the elimination period (deductible of time) has been met, premiums are waived for as long as care is required.
Alternative plans: It provides an alternate plan of care. The insurance company will potentially pay for other care options or services that are not listed in the policy.
Transfers out-of-state: It is portable, meaning the plan is good anywhere in the United States, and in some cases outside the United States.

I cannot tell you the relief, the weight of the world that lifted off my shoulders. Not only would my mother be taken care of, but we have options. We can decide where she receives care. It could be at home. It could be in one of the many lovely Jewish assisted living facilities that have been built to meet the religious and cultural needs of our community. Most importantly, I can be assured she will be in capable, caring hands while I am able to keep my job and take care of my children also. I will be involved in Mom's care, but I don't have to feel guilty about not being available 24 hours a day.

My mother not only gave herself a gift but it is a mitzvah for the entire family. It was a prudent, unselfish choice she made when she purchased this long-term care policy.

Jill Kreitman is now a specialist in long-term care insurance. Contact her at 602-867-1226 or at jill@ltcsolutions.net. Staff Writer Stephanie N. Henschel contributed to this article.

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