Long Term Care Insurance Details

If you suddenly need long term care, financially you would have three choices:

1. Trust that you will get the care you need through your provincial health system.
2. Tap into your wealth and quickly deplete your assets on treatments and medicine. The cost of care starts at about $50,000 a year and can quickly increase to more than $70,000 as you need more drugs and supplies.
3. Buy a Long Term Care Insurance policy.

For a fraction of the cost of future care, you can buy an insurance policy now and protect yourself. Age is also a major consideration. The time to start thinking about purchasing long term care insurance is in your 50s, as a $1000 a year policy you take out in your fifties would cost $3400 to take out in your 70s.

A defining feature is that long term care insurance is not as dependent on current health as it is on lifestyle and mobility. For instance, someone that has survived cancer may not qualify for other forms of insurance, but may qualify for this form of insurance.

There are two components to a long term care insurance policy:

1. Home Care - care is provided to you in your home, assisting you with activities of daily living (ie. bathing, feeding, toileting, grooming, dressing).

2. Facility Care - care is provided in a certified facility in your province, by trained and licensed staff.

Payments are described as money received on a daily basis, usually between $10 to $300.  Payments begin after a selected waiting period (between 0 to 90 days), and continue for a specific duration (1 year, 2 years, 5 years or lifetime).