What To Do If You Don’t Qualify For Long Term Care Insurance

In the first 3 installments of this series on the cost of long term care insurance we looked at folks who were able to qualify for a policy. However, long term care insurance can be difficult to qualify for - chances are, we all know someone who would not be able to get a long term care insurance plan at all.

Alternatives To Long Term Care Insurance

Sarah had just turned 56 when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). She told us that she didn’t have any symptoms that stopped her from going about her daily life. She said that she had applied for a life insurance policy with long term care benefits because she’d heard they were easier to qualify for than other long term care insurance policies. While filling out an application, she was told that a diagnosis of MS would end up with her application being rejected.

When Sarah came to us, she felt discouraged and frightened about losing control of her life as her MS progressed. What she wanted most was to grow old in her own house near her friends and neighbors. Fortunately, we had several alternative plans that could help her stay home safer and longer. Once she understood the pros and cons of each plan, we helped her enroll in a membership club that would help her savings last as much as 10 times longer for home care.

Medicaid for Long Term Care

Bill’s wife, Jinny, has been struggling with Alzheimer’s for 5 years. He knew that as much as he and his two adult children tried to keep her safe at home, Jinny now needed professional care in a memory care facility. Bill worked as an engineer at a boat yard and Jinny ran a preschool before they retired. They had saved carefully for retirement but didn’t have enough to pay for long term facility care.

Medicaid was the only option for the family, but Bill worried that Jinny wouldn’t qualify for Medicaid until all their retirement savings were gone. After all his family had gone through, the last thing he wanted was to become a financial burden to his children. We worked with Bill and his estate attorney to create a Medicaid compliant plan to protect enough retirement savings to give Bill an independent life while keeping Jinny safe in a memory facility.

Next Steps:

Being told you can’t buy insurance with long term care benefits can be painful and upsetting. While we can’t change the system, we can help guide you toward a solution to give you more independence if you need long term care.

Book a time to share your story so we can find a solution together.

Check out the next post for more information about long term care benefit choices and policy costs.