Long Term Health Care – The Future
Published November 24, 2007Unparalleled increases in the size of the elderly population as the baby boom generation ages will necessitate an increase in the need for long-term health care. The majority of long-term care will be provided informally by unpaid family members and friends who undoubtedly will need occasional respite from their caregiving. Others, who live alone and/or have no living children, will have to rely on formal long-term care providers such as certified nursing assistants and home care or personal care workers.
Advancing age naturally increases functional disability. While most elderly people are not disabled, the likelihood of their needing some level of long-term care increases with age. Women are more likely to need care because they live longer and have higher rates of disability than men. Most people, however, will need some long-term care during their lives whether it is intermittently or permanently to help maintain their independence and allow them to continue to be able to live in their own homes.
The physical design of homes is likely to become more important as baby boomers age. Ramps rather than steps, grab bars in bathrooms, and door handles that accommodate arthritic fingers can facilitate people aging in place and will surely be addressed by housing developers. Technological advances, ranging from telemedicine, which is the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications in order to improve patient care, or the use of robots to perform personal care functions and play games like dominoes and chess, may enhance the ability of elders with disabilities to remain independent in their own homes. A firm called Xanboo in New York is using networks of cameras and sensors to help people monitor relatives with dementia. It enables them to remotely switch off an overflowing bath or adjust the central heating system—another way of make aging in place possible.
For more information on long-term care in Denver, call 303.660.5120.
Gerri Tyber, Operations Manager
Barton Home Care
No Nursing Home for Me – Long Term Care Insurance Instead!
Published May 30, 2007When my wife & I reach the point in our lives that we need assistance in getting through the day, we will receive that assistance in our home. Home is where our hearts are. Home is where our memories were created. We don’t want to leave it.
We are not wealthy people and I do know that professional home care ranges from about $18-$22 per hour in Metro-Denver. So how is it going to happen? The care won’t be provided by our children. They have their own lives to lead. (Just between you and me, our children would take care of us, but they really won’t want to…and we really won’t want them to.) Besides, we do want our kids to come by, when they can, to spend some enjoyable hours together…not to bathe us or do other unpleasant “grunt work.”
Where will the money come from to pay for all this care? It won’t be from Medicare or Medicaid (we will never qualify for Medicaid and Medicare’s home care services are so limited as to be not worth considering in our planning).
In 2001 we purchased a good comprehensive long term care insurance policy that will pay for home care, has a lifetime benefit period, and inflation protection to increase the benefits to keep up with increasing costs of care. If you prefer spending as much time in your home as possible, you, too, should ask for a long term care quote from an insurance agent offering long term care insurance. That way you can prepare for your twilight years when you still have the time.
Full disclosure:
I am an insurance broker specializing in long term care and long term care insurance. I bought the stuff myself or I wouldn’t have the strong belief that I do about its value to my clients.
Ray Smith, CLU, CLTC, CSA
The Long Term Care Specialist
303-300-4337
www.raysmithltc.com
raysmith@finsvcs.com
