Americans Shouldn’t Rely on Government to Pay for Long Term Care

Most Americans today are not prepared to pay for long term
care thinking that the government will pay everything for them. The truth is,
it’s not that reliable like what everyone thinks. As a matter of fact, Eric
Henderson, the Senior Vice President at National Financial, said that Americans
shouldn’t rely on Medicaid or Medicare.

Around 70% of Americans 65 and above will most likely
require any form of long term care. However, only 1 in 10 managed to create a
plan on how to cover his or her care expenses.

This is alarming and the government should interfere at once
and debunk the myth that the said government programs are enough to cover long
term care costs. This is getting out of hand actually since 70% of wealthy baby
boomers think that Affordable Care Act will pay for their long term care
expenses.

Here’s the truth according to Henderson, Medicaid only pays
for ltc expenses of people with assets of $2,000 or below while Medicare
provides only a limited long term care coverage like up to 100 days of stay in
a nursing home but only after a 3-day stay in a hospital and physical therapy.

Buying long term care insurance is the best option they have
but Henderson admits that people are turned off by the fact that they are
paying for something that they might not use in the future. They know that they
will most likely require custodial care but they still think that they will
remain healthy.

But with the additional tax deductions that people can get
from their policy, I hope they’ll consider getting one.