The Gift of Choice – and Long Term Care
As we open up holiday cards and presents, as fun and festive as they are, it is also good to reflect on how the value of these items pale in comparison to the more meaningful gifts that life offers. Gifts such as spending time with friends and loved ones. Gifts that seem even more precious in our always on-the-go society.
In a perfect world, most of us would choose to live out our retirement close to loving relatives and friends, celebrating milestones and holidays, together. If long term care was needed, it would be our choice to be taken care of by a reliable, loving person who was able to devote their time and energy to our care without endangering their own financial security.
However, we all know the world is far from perfect. While we should always hope for the best, it only makes sense to plan for other less optimal scenarios. In fact, this reminds me of the campaign called Life Happens, which sums up in two little words the need for insurance. Put another way, life is full of surprises, and some of them are not from our wish lists!
What can happen?
· The daughter who everyone figured would be our caregiver loses her husband and must return to full-time work
· Or the neighbor who was the caregiver for many in the neighborhood needs to relocate, leaving paid in-home care or an assisted living facility our best remaining (and expensive) options
· Even the realization that we can no longer stay in our home, with no bathroom on the first floor, lots of stairs, and upkeep that becomes more daunting each year
It’s always difficult to realize that the plans we relied on for caregiving aren’t going to work out. That’s when it’s plainly apparent that the ability to pay privately for long term care, without disrupting other plans, matters. No longer in theory, the abstract, the “maybe someday it will matter” point-of-view. It’s today. It’s now.
That’s exactly why long term care insurance can be so critical. It provides a sum of money to be used exactly when long term care is needed. The catch? You need to buy insurance before it’s needed.
Long term care insurance isn’t a last-minute present you can pick up on your way to a holiday party. But it is truly a gift– for the many thousands of people who are collecting insurance benefits.
Long term care insurance can make it easier to spend time with loved ones and even live with a family member while paying for your own professional care. And when long term care is actually needed one day, what can be more precious than the ability to easily pay for care in the setting it’s desired? For information regarding the invaluable gift of long term care insurance, feel free to contact Baygroup Insurance at http://www.baygroupinsurance.com/forms/contact-us or call us at 410-557-7907 for more information.
