Senior Housing and Assisted Living

Elderly people require Long term care when they need someone to care for them because they are no longer able carry out a number of every day normal activities unaided. These activities require assistance with day to day personal actions such as bathing, putting on clothes or toileting and can occur at home, in residential or nursing care.

The need for care can occur instantly without warning, such as the result of a stroke or heart condition. On the other hand the need for care could evolve progressively as the person’s dependency increases due to lack of mobility or dementia.

Why take out a long term care immediate needs policy? Essentially predicting life expectancy is not a precise science. When people pay for their own care they may live longer in a good care home but their money could run out. An insurance care plan policy guarantees life time payments.

The risk of a life time care insurance policy is that if a person dies early the original outlay is lost unless there is an element of insurance against premature death.

Long term care insurance plan premiums are calculated based on the individual’s life expectancy. this is forecast by reference to medical information provided by the person’s family doctor. Also insurance companies endeavour to speak to care home staff for an up to date hands on assessment. The cost of a care plan is less relative to correspondingly deteriorating health and frailty.

The amount of long term care insurance payments required is determined by the monthly cost of care less the person’s state pension, benefits and other income such as private pensions. The balance required to meet the care fees bill is the shortfall. It is this regular shortfall that can be paid for life by payment of a once only lump sum to an insurance company. It is possible to pay extra to make sure that the benefits increase each year in line with rising care costs.

If a care provider will agree to keep their annual care fee increases to say five percent each year, the long term care insurance plan can be structured to match this rate for the rest of the persons life.

The only potential snag is that the person’s health deteriorates to such an extent they may need to move to another more expensive care provider. However there may be help in the form of a nursing care contribution or even fully funded continuing care. In the case of the latter, further care fees payments may not be necessary and the care plan policy benefits can be credited direct to the individuals account.

Long term care plans have a significant tax saving benefit. This is because there is no tax liability on the person in care when benefits are payable direct to a registered care provider.

before to commence providing for long term care fees be sure to access Barbara Davies’s vital free report concerning long term care insurance policies.

At the time a person needs care at home or in a residential or nursing home, the question that is uppermost in the minds of their family is how are they going to afford the cost of the fees for the care. With average costs being over 30,000 per annum, at this point, any hopes of leaving an inheritance for their family disappear as funding their care needs becomes uppermost and they have to fund this care with the sale of the family home.

The current position is that people have to fund the costs of their care if they have assets including their home, above 23,000 in England and Northern Ireland, 22,000 in Wales and 22,500 in Scotland. There are some exceptions to these rules but these are very limited in scope and the move most people make next is to investigate any help available from local charities but this is usually on a temporary basis as charity resources are limited.

Most people want a permanent solution and one of the best is a care fees plan – also known as an Immediate Needs Annuity(INA). The cost of the premium is driven by a person’s age, sex and state of health and is arrived at following receipt of medical information from the nursing home and the client’s doctor. The more frail and dependent a person – the lower the premium costs as, it is directly related to the life insurance company’s opinion on the person’s mortality.

Care fees Plansare a very effective way of protecting a family’s estate against the danger of care fees running away with future inheritances. They allow a family to plan for the expenditure needed then plan for the future with confidence.

These plans are very practical solutions to paying for care and are also extremely tax efficient in that, although the lump sum premium does not qualify for any tax relief, if payments are made to a REGISTERED CARE PROVIDER – one registered with the CQC (Care Quality Commission) – they are paid tax free with no impact upon the tax position of the care recipient. Should a person recover and no longer need care, the annuity can be changed and payments paid straight to them but with tax deducted twenty percent by the insurance company so the annuitant will receive the net amount. However this rate of tax is only applied to a small part of the payment.

If there is an inheritance tax liability, the purchase of an immediate needs care annuity can also be a very tax efficient way of reducing this liability as the cost excluding any capital protection can be deducted from the estate – effectively purchasing the means to pay for the care with a forty percent discount.

Finally, it means that the following aims have been attained:-

A limited sum has been allocated plus a reserve to deal with any unforseen events and the expenses have not been able to deplete the balance of savings.

The costs of care have been ring-fenced. Also the person in care has certainty of their care and retains their dignity and choice in the matter.

Savings are at the lowest level when the lump sum has been paid. Once this has been done, all future care fees are then covered, thus giving any monies left the chance to grow and replace savings.

It is so important that families use the skills of an expert financial planner who has experience in dealing with long term care so that they ensure that they receive correct advice, as this is one time when making the right decisions really can make all the difference to a family’s future.

Before you consider a long term care insurance plan that can protect against huge care fees simply access your remarkable free information written by barbara Davies, CEO of equityCare