It’s Never Too Early

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Talk to your loved one about long-term care insurance.

After age 65, about half of all Americans will require long-term care. While long-term care insurance isn’t for everyone, it’s important to seriously consider, since Medicare coverage for both nursing home and in-home care is limited. Moreover, long-term care insurance can broaden the choices for what kind of care someone can afford.

Evaluate needs, as well as ability to handle premium payments. Shop around. Check online ratings of various insurers at A.M. Best, Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, or Weiss. Make sure you understand the features and limitations of the policy.

Look for one that provides a daily benefit amount about equal to the cost of skilled-facility care, home health-care coverage, an adequate benefit period, an elimination period (the time period during your initial stay in a nursing home when you will not receive benefits) between zero and 50 days, and inflation protection.

Finally, keep in mind that the older you are when taking take out a policy, the higher the premium will be. Experts say the optimal age to purchase long-term care insurance is usually sometime between age 59 and 65.

Take a class.

There’s nothing like hands-on training to prepare you for your new role. The Kupuna Education Center offers a variety of classes, including one-on-one personal care and transfer. Students learn how to give a bed bath, provide incontinent and oral care, dress, oversee range-of-motion exercises, and transfer from bed to chair to wheelchair to car.

Other classes cover chronic health conditions and normal aging, medication management, nutrition and diet, legal and financial aspects of caregiving, dementia and memory loss, organizing clutter, and available community services.

Put the law on your side.

When it comes to the law, there is such a thing as too late. Making necessary legal arrangements before a crisis hits will make everyone’s life exponentially easier. Encourage your loved one to draw up a will, durable power of attorney, an advance directive, and a letter of instructions while still he or she is still healthy—and then do the same things for yourself.

Here is what each document does:

• A will dictates who will manage your estate and inherit your belongings after you die. Without this, the state will make the decision for you—often at great time and cost to your loved ones.
• Durable power of attorney gives whomever you choose the legal right to handle your financial affairs should you become disabled or incapacitated. Without it, your heirs may find it difficult or impossible to access your bank accounts, securities or other property without lengthy and costly legal proceedings.
• An advance directive is a catch-all phrase that includes health-care directives, living wills, health care powers of attorney and any other personal directives. The health-care power of attorney is especially pertinent since it allows you to appoint someone to make health-care decisions in case you become mentally or physically disabled.  
• A letter of instructions is an informal document that can be drawn up without an attorney. It gives survivors information about important financial or personal matters that must be attended to upon death, and should provide essential financial information.

Get organized.

Cumbersome as it might sound, don’t postpone gathering and organizing your loved one’s important financial and legal documents. Keep a file for important contact names and numbers, and other important personal documents like birth and marriage certificates, a Social Security card, divorce papers (if applicable), or military records and identification.

Also gather the following: insurance policies, mortgage information, bank account information including bonds and CDs, as well as pertinent documents for 401ks, IRAs, stock certificates, outstanding loans, property deeds or titles, income tax and pension records (see Links below for a complete checklist).

If an elderly parent has a safety deposit box, make sure you know the number and where the keys are kept. Finally, organize all documents pertaining to your loved one’s final wishes including burial arrangements, cemetery information and chosen funeral home.