Alzheimer's & Long Term Care Insurance

Alzheimer's and Long Term Care Insurance

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia that develops in patients who are usually older than 65 years of age. It is a disease that affects the brain and its functions. Early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are the inability to register new memories. Many people suffer from Alzheimer’s disease without ever being diagnosed for it. This is because the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are often construed as symptoms of old age.

Alzheimer’s disease can progressively become worse in a patient and advanced stages of the disease can result in confusion, irritability, mood swings, memory loss and inability to communicate. A general deterioration of all the senses is witnessed which causes the patient to become very dependent on help to continue day to day activities.

It is estimated that 1 out of 85 people are going to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease by 2050. The disease cannot be cured and a patient can only be assisted to live out their lives. Care will then be thrust upon loved ones who will have to spend a significant amount of time and effort to take care of them, some of whom might require care for most of their daily activites.

Paid health care can be very expensive with nursing homes charging expensive rates to take care of the elderly. It is has been established that Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most expensive diseases to treat in the United States.

With all this mentioned, it is important for one to consider long term care insurance to cover their expenses in case they are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the future. It will greatly reduce the burden on family members and also for oneself as they can be assured of good care that will be covered by an insurance policy, should they be unfortunate enough to fall victim to Alzheimer’s disease. Long term care insurance will cover the expenses brought about by Alzheimer’s disease which will not be covered by private general health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.

Long term care insurance has different policies that will mostly cover assisted living, nursing home and hospice care with most policies also covering expenses related to in home care.

The cost of long term insurance care is dependent on several factors such as age, current health condition and also on the type of coverage that is required. Many companies will also give discounts to families and couples who jointly get a long term care insurance policy. Premiums payable are usually lower if an applicant signs up at a younger age rather than buying at an older age where premiums will be a lot more.