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I had never even heard of Long-Term Care Insurance until a close friend suddenly had to become a fulltime caregiver to his elderly parents, both with health problems and starting to develop dementia (namely Alzheimer’s). Being acutely active in the care-giving process, I watched as the family ripped through their life savings, and then started chipping away at their son's. The son was advised to apply for financial assistance for them through the government’s Medicaid system--the program for those at the poverty level. It was quite a long process with mounds of paperwork and numerous investigations, but finally his parents were approved.
We were so happy that monetary help would finally be on the way, until we discovered that the financial assistance would only pay to put his parents in a nursing home, not even in Assisted Living, and with very little help to keep them in their own home.
Since their levels of care were so different (his mother needed most things done for her), there weren’t any facilities that would allow them to be together. They’d be across the street from each other in different wings of the home. After fifty-five years of marriage, my friend's parents were adamant about wanting to be together in their own home where they could continue their life together. And, since his father was so “difficult” with a terrible temper and quite a long record of manipulative disruptive behaviors from the Alzheimer’s, the homes didn’t want to deal with him anyway. So home they went.
It was challenging, but my friend committed to keeping his parents in their own home and attending Adult Day Health Care five days a week. Then, with the help of two marvelous caregivers, after four more years of loving each other--they passed, just a few months apart. Even though caring for every aspect of his parents’ last years was the hardest thing he have ever done--he is proud to say he gave them the best end-of-life he possibly could.
Had we only known to insist that they buy Long-Term Care Insurance prior to their illnesses--their years of in-home care could have been paid for, and my friend could have saved himself so much heartache, not to mention a small fortune.
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