To Your Health
Planning for long-term care
Susan Hartenbaum was walking in a Los Angeles dog park on Jan.
2 when a 140-pound canine knocked her to the ground and shattered
her tibia. Confined to a wheelchair for months, Hartenbaum was forced
to seek long-term care (LTC), a broad range of services for chronically
ill patients who have trouble performing two or more activities
essential to daily living for at least 90 days.
Five out of 10 Americans need LTC at some point of their lives
and, as Hartenbaum, a gerontologist, discovered, it’s impossible
to say just when. The key is to be prepared, she told those who
attended the second in a series of lectures, “Eldercare and
Aging,” organized on April 20 by the UCLA Staff and Faculty
Counseling Center.
Cost of LTC is rising
The importance of Hartenbaum’s well-attended talk, “Long-Term
Care Coverage: An Overview of Choices,” can be summed up in
three pithy facts: First, the average cost of LTC is rising at an
annual rate of 6.7%, outpacing the rate of inflation. Second, the
cost will double in 12 years. And finally, it will triple in 20
years, rising as high as $190,000 by 2030, according to some projections.
“That is mind-boggling,” Harten-
baum said. “People in my family get very ill in their mid-
to late-80s. Think about the money we have to put away to take care
of them.” Hartenbaum’s father, for example, developed
dementia at age 91, and her family spent as much as $4,500 a month
on his care.
Making well-informed choices about LTC isn’t easy. According
to a 2001 survey by the American Association of Retired Persons,
Americans have a widespread tendency to underestimate the cost of
LTC while overestimating the amount of financing available through
both public programs and private health insurance. One popular fallacy
is that Medicare, the government health insurance program for the
elderly, funds LTC.
Most LTC insurers offer policies to people at least 40 years old
at costs based on their health status, specific policy features
and length of benefits. Before buying a policy, advised Hartenbaum,
it’s worthwhile to check if it is “qualified”
under the law to allow policyholders to take tax deductions for
a portion of the premium or for non-reimbursable ex-
penses exceeding a certain percentage of their gross income.
Other important considerations
It’s also worthwhile to ask if the policy is “guaranteed
renewable,” meaning that the insurer cannot cancel the policy
unless its holder fails to make payments. Finally, it’s important
to ensure that a policy’s benefits are adjusted for inflation.
A bill currently pending before Congress aims to allow policyholders
to get tax write-offs on the entire amount of LTC insurance premiums.
The bill is expected to pass in the next few years, said Hartenbaum,
because both political parties want to make people responsible for
their own health care as they age.
For more information about LTC coverage, call the counseling center
at (310) 794-0245.
In the next issue on May 24: how to create meaning when faced with
the loss of a loved one.
— Ajay Singh
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