Massachusetts MA Long Term Care Insurance

What is Long Term Care Insurance?

The Basics

• Long term care is given to someone who can no longer independently complete, some or all, of the activities of daily living (ADL), because of physical or mental limitations.

• Individuals that need the help of others to complete these activities are in need of long term care.

• Long Term Care Insurance pays a daily benefit in order to pay for some type of long term care giver or facility.

• Since the percentages of individuals who will need some form of long term care in their lives is substantial, everyone should consider purchasing Long Term Care Insurance.

The Activities Of Daily Living (ADL)

1. Bathing - The ability to wash all parts of one's self, including soaping, rinsing and drying. Bathing also includes the ability to get in and out of a shower, bath tub or basin. 
   
2. Toileting - The ability to travel to and from the toilet and on and off the toilet.  This also includes the use of a bedpan or urinal.
   
3. Continence - The ability to voluntarily control bowel and bladder functions as well as maintain personal hygiene.
   
4. Dressing - The ability to put on and remove all clothing and medically necessary braces or artificial limbs.
   
5. Transferring - The ability to move in and out of a chair, wheelchair, or bed, come to a standing position, as well as move within one's residence.
   
6. Eating - The ability to get nourishment into the body including the ability to use utensils.

If any one or two of these activities requires stand-by assistance to complete, the individual is considered disabled and in need of a nursing home admission or personal home care aid.  Therefore, Long Term Care Insurance is a policy that provides money to the insured to pay for the care that they need when they can not complete all the activities of daily living (ADL), have a cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases, or it is a medical necessity. Long Term Care Insurance is important because the average cost of one day in a nursing home in the United States is over $150, and could be as much as $400.  Thus, only a year in a nursing home could cost between $55,000 and $146,000.

Click here for our online form to receive Long Term Care Insurance Quotes for Massachusetts residents