The Boston Globe has an article today on the problems of care for people with in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. A few of the people profiled in the article with Alzheimer’s are in their 50’s, though early-onset Alzheimer’s is fairly rare affecting 5% to 10% of the cases prior to age 65.
If you’re in your 50’s or 60’s and you’re still healthy, it’s a good time to prepare for this contingency.
Looking across the spectrum of long term care insurance products, you could get a traditional long term care (LTC) insurance policy. The downside of this approach is that the carrier reserves the right to raise your premiums down the road. Also it’s likely a reimbursement plan for qualified expenses. That places certain limits on how your benefits are spent. Let’s say in the example of someone in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and still fairly active, this would pigeon hole you into finding someone licensed and certified to perform LTC services. You couldn’t have a friend, relative or suitable person perform those care duties and have your LTC insurance pay for it.
That’s why a hybrid LTC insurance approach may make more sense. I recommend North American for permanent life insurance. If you ever require chronic illness care, you can accelerate out your policy’s benefit in cash, and spent it however you deem fit. If you don’t need LTC, your heirs get the life insurance benefit.
Also setting up an annuity with a LTC rider is a good approach. You can get annuities with 2 to 3 times a LTC benefit. So for example a $100k annuity would give you an additional $200k to $300k insurance to provide for LTC. Look for annuity with an indemnity option, pay out in cash, rather than reimbursement for maximum flexibility.
Let me know if you’re interested in any of these products.