My friend is 81, his wife has severe mental problems that make her moods totally unpredictable and makes her very difficult to handle. Last week he moved her back home from the care facility where she had lived for the past few years. He did so because he can no longer afford the $4,000.00 per month it costs to keep her there. He is not capable of handling her nor does he have the strength and stamina necessary for her care even if she did not have the mental issues.

I read about an 84 year old man who is losing his house and owes more than $700,000.00. He retired from a good business with a comfortable nest egg, but his wife developed a long term illness and he was determined to care for her in the home. Twenty-four hour nursing ate up his savings so he took out a reverse mortgage on his house. When that money was gone he became entangled in the refinancing frenzy that has lead to the melt down of the housing market. After who knows how many such financial deals he is loosing his house and owes the mountain of debt besides.

A retired couple living in a full service facility near my home are well on their way to financial ruin. He has Alzheimer's and must be cared for in the special wing of the facility. She must pay for the apartment where she lives. The total cost is $8,400.00 per month. She will most likely use up their total worth in his care and leave her with nothing.

I could go on but you get the point. For the past fifteen years I have been urging audiences everywhere I travel to consider long term care insurance. I have asked for every one who has this coverage to raise their hands and never had more than three hands raised in audiences of all sizes and ages. After fifteen years that number has not improved. Long term care insurance would have prevented all of the tragedies listed in this article. If I had to choose between continuing my life insurance or my long term care insurance the choice to keep the long term care policy would take no thought at all.

And yet, this is the hardest insurance to sell. Many insurance companies have given up on even trying to do so. I have tried to figure out why we are so reluctant to purchase this vital coverage. I think there are some reasons.

First: Not only do we not want to go to a nursing home, we don't even want to think about ever needed to do so. Long term care insurance is not nursing home insurance. It does not require us to go to a facility at all. When needed, long term care can happen in the home or anywhere. 

Second: We have to buy it a long time before we need it or are even thinking about needing it. I bought my policy when I was sixty years of age. I am now seventy-six years old. Today I would be an easy sell. At sixty, I was far from ready and would have been a hard sell if I had not just been involved in long term care for both my parents and wife's mother. I would be an easy sell today, but I would not qualify and could not afford the coverage if I could qualify. 

Third: When we need to buy the coverage we also need life insurance and sometimes buying both can be tough. That fact brings me to the good news that prompted this blog. 

Several companies are now presenting a policy that covers both needs. They sell a term life insurance policy that will not expire until a person is 120 so not much danger of it running out too soon. The policy has what insurance folks call a rider attached that allows the policy to pay out one of two ways. If the person dies, the policy pays out as life insurance. If the person lives long enough to demand care, the policy can be used for long term care either in the home or in a care facility. 

I do not sell insurance. I do not profit from the sale of insurance in any manner. I write this because I am passionate about people being prepared for their care. My passion comes from too many years of hearing too many stories like the ones told in this blog. 

Your comments or questions are welcomed. 

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