Nearly all Elderly Have Failed to Plan for Long-Term Care

Nearly all Elderly Have Failed to Plan for Long-Term Care

Proviso we were to inquire an older person what his or her main concerns are we would most likely get a range of diverse answers. Nevertheless according to surveys often conducted amongst the elderly, the majority likely answers we would receive would include the following three principal concerns.

1. Remaining independent in the home without intervention from others.

2. Maintaining good health and receiving adequate health care.

3. Having enough money for everyday needs and not outliving assets and income

Even though the elderly are absolutely anxious about the want for long-term care it is not far above the ground on the catalog of concerns. It is human nature not to be anxious about a happening until it happens. Surely everyone is worried about having his house blaze down or having an accident or getting an illness or ending up in the hospital or needing long-term care but these things are characteristically away from our control and we can't sit about and worry about them. But people do plan for the risk of loss and typically have set money aside or bought insurance or prepared written documents to cover the unexpected.

For the elderly the need for long-term care is in all probability the most disastrous unexpected incident that could occur. This is for the reason that the need for long-term care usually removes any level of security an elderly person may have with the three major lifestyle concerns mentioned above.

With the need for long-term care the older person:

1. Loses independence

2. Has experienced a loss of good health

3. Uses up remaining assets and income

No other late-life event can be as devastating to the lifestyle the elderly are so concerned about maintaining. No wonder many elderly care recipients withdraw, become angry and suffer from severe depression.

As luck would have it, older people meticulously scrape together $100-$200 a month to buy Medicare supplement insurance to cover a risk about equal to their yearly premiums. They will go without and give up food, recreation and activities in array to grasp on to the last few dollars in their savings accounts.

So far very few elderly use money or time to chart for the event of long-term care. It seems a contradiction in terms that someone would be extra concerned about buying insurance for a home fire when the risk of long-term care is 600 times more likely. Or what about the cost of insuring for an auto accident when the risk of long-term care is 120 times more likely and is potentially 20 times more expense? Or why the overwhelming concern to buy Medicare supplement insurance when without it Medicare would still cover most of their health needs after deductibles and co-pays? We're not recommending going without insurance coverage we're simply using it as an example of how people refuse to deal with the issue of long-term care.

Nobody knows why people past age 65 are not more concerned about preparing for long-term care. Perhaps they have seen it in their family or among friends and seen the effect that it has. Because of the unsavory aspect of receiving long-term care, perhaps the elderly prefer to ignore it rather than embrace the need for it. Perhaps they mistakenly think the government will take care of them. Or they are assured that family and friends will provide the care when needed, but don't know how difficult it really is for loved ones to provide that care when the time actually comes. Whatever the case, without proper planning, the need for long-term care can result in the single greatest crisis in an elderly person's life.

This lack of planning will always have an adverse effect on the older person's family. It usually results in great sacrifice or financial cost on the part of the spouse or children. Or for those with no immediate family, long-term care can be a burden to extended family members.

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