Articles

Long Term Care - Is It a Women’s Issue?

Comfort Long Term Care
JRG Associates LLC
1526 E. Franklin St., Suite 102
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Tel 919-260-6812
Fax 919-450-0341

You bet it is and here’s why……

We live longer

We all know that women live longer than men, on average up to 5 years longer. As a result of outliving our spouses, nearly half of us who live to be 76 or older will be living singly. Plus as part of the “gift of living longer” women bear the brunt of getting Alzheimer’s disease – nearly 2/3 of the Alzheimer’s patients are women.

We are the caregivers

Care giving is mostly a woman’s job. In fact, three quarters of all family care is provided by a wife, mother, daughter or sister. Women now spend more hands on time (bathing, feeding and toileting) caring for aging parents than they do caring for children.

We care for our husbands and often wear ourselves out in the process. We end up suffering the consequences of our loved one’s disease or condition. We don’t take good care of ourselves – we don’t get enough sleep or exercise and we don’t eat properly.

What happens to us ….physically, emotionally and financially?

In addition to neglecting ourselves physically and emotionally, consider the financial implications this can have:
• We reduce our hours or even curtail our careers to care for a loved one which has a negative impact on our retirement portfolio including Social Security
• Sometimes we have to dig into our savings or liquidate our assets; imagine the tax implications to that.
• We cut back on personal expenses that seem to be luxuries (gym memberships, salon visits and dining out)

What can we do to take good care of ourselves?

We plan for our retirement by setting up and contributing to our 401K’s and our IRA’s. We have a will and an estate plan drawn up including powers of attorney. And if we are smart, we get a long term care insurance policy for ourselves and our partners to alleviate some of the hardship we experienced as caregivers.

Owning a long term care insurance policy may help you stay in the workforce while paying for adult day care or for someone to come to your home to provide the hands on assistance your loved one may need to bathe and dress or provide supervision for a cognitive impairment. This allows you to then transition from the role of caregiver and the inherent side effects of that job to that of Care Manager. You can manage your loved one’s care and needs while maintaining a healthy and productive lifestyle.

When the time comes, you will have your own policy that will generate the benefits you will need to have someone take care of you. ….

The Time is Now

Since the long term care insurance inception in the 1970’s women and men have paid the same premium, based on age and health. That is changing. Beginning this year (2013), as early as April, gender discrimination is coming. Insurance companies will charge up to 40% more for women depending on marital status.
The reason this change is coming is because we do live longer than men and 70% of all claims paid are paid to women.

If you have never thought about this or it’s something you’ve put on the back burner, now is the time to take action before the change takes effect. At least do some fact finding about long term care insurance – what it is, what it covers and the costs involved. And if you have been thinking about buying it but just haven’t made the decision, waiting any longer may really impact your cost.

If you or someone you know has been putting of the decision to move forward with long term care planning, please contact me or a trusted financial or insurance advisor. Whomever you decide to work with, it is important to check on their certifications. Below is a description of a CLTC (Certified in Long Term Care):
The CLTC designation is granted by the CLTC Board of Standards, Inc. The program is financially and editorially independent of the long-term care industry. Graduates have completed a rigorous multidisciplinary course that focuses on the profession of long-term care, not selling insurance products. The program is recognized by state regulators through the granting of continuing education credits in recognition of providing essential information in the field of long-term care planning.

Jocelyne R. Gervais, CLTC
“Always happy to work with you, your friends and family to design a plan that meets your needs and means”

This article was written in collaboration with Beverly Berner, CLTC, Comfort Long Term Care, St. Louis, MO