Did you know that almost 15% of people in the U.S. who need long-term care are between the ages of 40 and 65? This information comes from the U.S. Census. Long-term care isn't just for people who are old.
Did you also know that Medicare does not cover long-term care if you need it? Most people don't figure this out until it's too late.
Medicaid, which is paid for by the state of Missouri, does cover some long-term health care costs, but it may not be what you were hoping for. To get long-term care coverage from the state, you must first spend all of your own money. This means selling your home, any stocks or bonds you may have, and all of your bank accounts.
To get Medicaid from the state of Missouri, you must first be poor.
Then, if you have no money or property, you are completely at the mercy of the Medicaid system. You have to go to the facility they choose, see the doctors they choose, and get the treatments they choose.
If this doesn't sound like the kind of life you wanted, it may be time to start looking for long-term care insurance that can give you peace of mind. Since premiums go up every time you have a birthday, the sooner you buy long-term care insurance, the less it will cost you.
Sit down right now and start making a plan for your long-term care insurance. Most plans have a limit on how much they will pay for your long-term care in total. Have an idea of how big that cap needs to be. You should also know that plans that cover 24-hour care in a nursing home can be more expensive than plans that cover day care in the home.
Another thing is called the Elimination Period. This is just a fancy way of saying "deductible." The longer your Elimination Period, or the more money you are willing to pay for your own long-term care before you ask insurance to take over, the lower your monthly premium will be.
Go online and look for a few sites that let you compare the costs and benefits of different long-term care insurance plans. Plan to take a little time to look around and try out different options. Don't be surprised if you have to run different long-term care scenarios in more than one session and more than one day before you find the right policy and price for you.
Remember that most people don't like to think about long-term care, but over half of all Missouri residents 65 or older need this kind of care. So, unless you want to leave all the decisions up to other people, you need to take charge and get cheap long-term care insurance in Missouri right now, while the choices are still yours.
