Long-term care insurance has turned into an integral piece of aging as it has helped a tremendous amount of seniors’ age in place alleviating financial concerns, and it’s only growing in popularity. Many people, both future residents and their families, aren’t completely certain about how it works. We hope this blog gives you a better understanding and even encourages you to look into it for you or a loved one. We will do our part to always assist in getting the long-term insurance payouts to our residents.
First, we think you need to have a basic understanding about how long-term insurance works. Long-term insurance basically is a plan to offset expenses of what an individual pays out of pocket for home care or in a senior living community. The policy is set up on an individual basis with an insurance agent. Some policies offer a per diem, possibly $100 a day, while others offer a per diem plus an inflation rider that will allow payments to increase as the cost of living does. For the policy to be kicked into action, it must be determined if the care provided at a community meets the requirements of the specified care written in the policy.
If you or your loved one has a long-term insurance policy, we want you to know that we do our part assisting in obtaining the insurance. We initially need to know that a resident has a long-term policy, and it’s best if we know that prior to a resident’s move-in. When the resident moves in, we send a letter to the insurance agency that states the resident has moved in, and details the specifics of the resident’s care plan and the lease agreement. Next, the family is contacted by an insurance company representative to confirm that the resident has moved into our community. After that, the agency sends a nurse to Homeplace to confirm that the resident is indeed living here and to determine if the level of care administered here meets the terms of the policy. If so, the policy is approved. At that point, Homeplace begins to send an itemized bill to the insurance agency, which then sends a payment to the policy holder.
If it is found that the level of care does not meet the terms of the policy, then the insurance company would not pay out. But that doesn’t mean the policy is null and void. We continue to evaluate the resident, and we re-apply to the insurance company when the resident’s level of care increases. And it is at this time that the process is started again. We notify the agency, and they send a representative who determines if the terms of the policy have been met.
Long-term insurance plans have changed from the early days when they were just being introduced. At that time, it was often a use-it-or-lose-it policy, meaning if the senior died before ever having to activate the plan, then all the money put into it was gone. These days, the plans have hybridized, and those unused plans often morph to life insurance policies that take care of expenses after death.
Now, that’s a whole lot of information about long-term insurance, and we hope that clarifies it for you. But what we really want you to know is that we accept long-term insurance policy holders at Homeplace, we will work with you to get approval, we are transparent about the process, and we will always be a resource to help you learn more about this—and much more. So don’t ever hesitate to contact us.
To contact the Homeplace of Henderson, email Jessica Beaven at jessica.beaven@homeplaceofhenderson.com or call at (270) 577-0534.