Long Term Care Planning With a Holiday Focus
Perhaps because this year our summer holidays have coincided with a marked reduction in the number of pandemic cases and deaths, those special days now seem more celebratory than ever:
Mother’s Day
Memorial Day
Juneteenth
Father’s Day
Independence Day
Labor Day
These holidays aren’t all about sweetness and light. Most mothers and fathers will tell you there’s a fair amount of pain and sacrifice that comes along with the joy and recognition. In fact, all these holidays honor and recognize pain, sacrifice, and freedom.
As I consider these holidays through the lens of long term care, I’m struck by how they’re tied to related concerns:
Mothers, fathers, parents. Freedom. Independence. Paid and unpaid caregiving and labor.
The caregiving experience is rarely easy. It can exaggerate fissures in families, or provide a backdrop for a family to heal. Caregiving can spotlight the plight of the widow or widower who never planned on going it alone. Caregiving can disappoint the veteran who thought they would be cared for by the VA in their old age.
To all of this, add the heartache of nursing homes that—for a variety of reasons—became places of profound misery and death during the pandemic. The tragedy hit at all levels, from high-end private pay locations to government-run soldiers’ homes. For a while, it seemed like there was no good, safe place to live. Nursing home placements plummeted, as people were reluctant to enter such facilities.
Workers at care facilities isolated elder residents during lockdowns, allowing no visitors—while suffering the constant fear that by simply continuing to carry out their duties they might be bringing the virus home to loved ones. The caregiving industry is already rampant with high turnover, and it remains to be seen what impact the pandemic will have on it—from home care to assisted living to nursing homes.
National holidays, both very new and very old, remind us of truths. Of what we hold dear. When it comes to long term care, here’s a reminder of the truths most of us know:
1. Many mothers and many fathers will need long term care.
2. Few families have someone who is up to the herculean task of providing 24/7 extended care, indefinitely.
3. To control who is your professional caregiver(s), who is hired and who may be fired, in order to have independence, you must be the payor.
4. To avoid financial devastation, or to minimize the damage to your financial legacy, long term care insurance is the only financial instrument designed to fund long term care.
True, the phrase “holiday season” is most often used to signify the wild sleigh ride of days from Thanksgiving through to New Year’s. However, looking at warm weather holidays and the people and values they honor can remind us of the importance of long term care planning and long term care insurance.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to discuss any aspect of long term care planning or long term care insurance you might need more information about. Baygroup Insurance can be contacted at http://www.baygroupinsurance.com/forms/contact-us or call us at 410-557-7907 for more information.
