Last week’s Protection Tip talked about the kind of legacy most of us would like to leave behind. We also examined some of the things that can happen to us which might prevent us from leaving the kind of legacy that we’d like. Risks such as car accidents, house fires and becoming disabled because of illness or injury can ruin any financial legacy that we’d like to leave. And of course, one of the biggest threats is dying prematurely. But one of the things I didn’t cover last week is one of the most serious and frequent problems that drain our resources, making it difficult if not impossible to pass along a strong heritage to our loved ones, and that is the expense of long-term care.

Now, nearly everyone carries homeowners (or farmowners) insurance but the chances we will actually use this insurance to replace our home and contents is .083%. We all carry car insurance as well, but the chances of using the insurance for a major accident is only .417% -- less than one-half of one percent. Now I’m not suggesting that Homeowners and Auto insurance is not important, because it certainly is. And even though the odds of a total loss or being sued are fairly small, could you really afford to take on those risks, paying for them out of your own pocket? I know I couldn’t.

But back to long-term care expenses… There is a 50% chance that every one of us will require long-term care during our lifetime, and once we hit age 65, those odds jump to 60%. But the really scary information is the dollars associated with those odds. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the average national cost of nursing home care in 2006 was $171 per day or $62,415 per year for a semi-private room and $194 per day or $70,810 per year for a private room.

Now, you may be thinking, “I’ll just stay in my own home, that will be easier and cheaper.” That approach isn’t very realistic in most cases. What if you need round-the-clock care? Do your kids have the time to provide this? Do they even live close by? When it comes to the kind of care that involves toileting, dressing and bathing, do we even want your own children or their spouses helping you in this manner? Can they handle it emotionally? Can you?

Now, let’s examine the costs or home health care. The national average cost of home health care is over $20,000. Here in Iowa, the average cost of a home health care worker is at or above $20 an hour. There are some people spend as much as $200 per week on home health services, and those with catastrophic needs could easily spend $150,000 a year or more.

I think that it is probably fair to say that we all think it will happen to someone else – some other family. But when we think about our own families, most of us (especially the guys) tend to think that it will be us needing the care and that our wives will be right there to provide that care, right? However, almost half – in fact 44% of all caregivers are men. And if you think long-term care is just for the elderly, you need to know that 40% of people needing long-term care are working age adults between the ages of 18 and 64.

Most of us would prefer to stay in our own homes, maintaining our independent lifestyle as long as possible instead of going to a nursing home, but as mentioned above, that can be very expensive. However, you can preserve and insure that independence with long-term care insurance. For more information on how to insure your independence, simply reply to this email or call our office at 482-6424.