California health insurance is a must-have. Can the same be said of a California long term care insurance plan? Interestingly enough, when Congress has passed legislation to enable greater access to affordable health coverage – first with the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act in 2003 and in 2010, with the Affordable Care Act (or what we all now call Health Reform) Congress set about creating an incentive for individuals to pay for their private long term care insurance and also create a public savings vehicle for long term care benefits.
Funds saved in a Health Savings Account or HSA – which came into being with the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act – can be used for premiums paid for qualified long term care insurance contracts. In 2011 – as part of sweeping new Health Reform legislation, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (C.L.A.S.S. Act) creates a public insurance option that will offer employees a voluntary long term care (‘LTC’) insurance vehicle with monthly premiums that can be paid for with payroll deductions.
This signals to us, as it should to those contemplating the merits of a California long term care insurance plan, that an important component to responsible financial planning for the future is the consideration of a California long term care insurance plan as part of an effective savings and insurance strategy. Congressional action on the subject of long term care acknowledges that costs for care – be it as part of a nursing home setting or for home care – are expensive and getting still more expensive.
As always, we are dedicated to bringing important information about the subject of long term care to visitors of our website. And – as always – we are standing by to provide one-on-one personalized service to California residents with concerns or questions about the ability of a California long term care insurance plan to meet future anticipated care needs for you, a spouse, or a parent. We’re here to help and our client services are always free. Always.
Let’s talk about California long term care insurance. If you’re a regular reader of the Vitality Blog you know where we stand on California health insurance: It’s important and we want to help you get the most affordable California health insurance plan that provides the greatest amount of benefits.
While you can see how certain we are that you must have viable California medical insurance – at all times – the picture gets a little less clear when we address the need for a long term care insurance plan. There’s a bit of nuance to the whole California long term care insurance strategy for a consumer and that’s exactly where our expertise comes in. Let’s talk a bit about how the long term care or ‘LTC’ shopping process actually starts:
- First, the timing: Well, like so many insurance products you’ll research in your lifetime, age plays an important part in determining your LTC premiums. Buy an LTC plan earlier in life when youth and better health are working in your favor, and you’ll pay a lower premium. But, while it’s important to note an estimated 40% of people currently receiving long term care are between the ages of 18-64, you might rightly decide that statistics favor that you’ll work to retirement and then begin enjoying what we all hope for: An active and enjoyable next chapter in your life. In that case…
- Consider the combined Medigap/LTC approach: At the same time you’re shopping for that affordable Medigap plan, get a sense of what you’re looking at in the way of affordable California long term care insurance strategies too. You’ll know best at this age what your future may hold in the way of health issues. You’ll have a better sense of what your finances will be heading into your retirement and fixed income years and you’ll have the freedom of time and perspective to look long and hard at your long term care options. Perhaps you have a large and solid support network of family and friends or feel secure enough about your retirement savings to choose the ‘self insured’ route  - so the prospects of finding a way to finance your and/or a spouse’s long term care needs isn’t an issue in your mind.
At this point, it’s important for us to step back from this article and note something for our readers: The Vitality approach to the client looking at LTC options is not a ‘sales approach’. It is a consultative approach. We understand that the subject of long term care can be both an emotional and perhaps even a deeply personal one based on your own personal experiences with relatives or parents. We are dedicated to helping you understand the range of options available to the long term care consumer and within that context helping you determine the strategy that works best for you based on your own unique financial objectives and your own personal objectives for quality of life and independent living throughout the course of a life lived well here in our state and in your community.
If you’ve been reading about long term care insurance online you have probably already noted the different approach each long term care insurance company takes to the product itself: Health screenings differ from one company to the next. The range of benefits certainly differs from one company to the next and the way you ‘build’ your coverage strategy will have a corresponding effect on the premiums you’ll pay. Our website – with its own California long term care insurance section along with accompany Vitality Blog – is dedicated to adding clarity and ease to the long term care shopping process. For Vitality, it is always about helping the California insurance consumer create insurance strategies that are uniquely right for the consumer, their family, and even their California small business!
While we’re dedicated to delivering an industry-best consumer experience online we also know that a product like California long term care insurance does feature enough variables that a personalized one-on-one client consultation can also be the best way to ensure peace of mind. We’re here to personally assist you in the LTC review process and – as always – our services are completely free to the client. Reach out to us and we’ll reach back with the careful, considerate consultation every Vitality client can rely on!
During a recent visit to Ventura’s Community Memorial Hospital we happened to come across a group of folks participating in one of the hospital’s maternity orientation classes. It was interesting and fun to see these couples preparing for such a momentous event in their lives and it occurred to us that they deserved credit for being proactive in their planning for such an event. It also reminded us of something else we chat about from time to time here at our Vitality Blog and that is the need to be proactive about securing maternity coverage along with your California health insurance plan before you conceive. That’s right – while you may already own an individual or family California health insurance plan – it is absolutely imperative that you secure added maternity benefits before you conceive.
California health insurance companies will not add this important coverage after you become pregnant. While you might be used to maternity coverage via participation in a group health plan, you will specifically need to apply for a California health plan with maternity benefits should your current coverage come via an individual/family health plan at present. Don’t assume your individual plan already covers maternity: If you’re planning an addition to your family, you can rely on us to help you create an affordable California health insurance plan with maternity benefits strategy that ensures peace of mind and lets you start concentrating on the classes that help you get ready for a new baby and all the other things that come along with planning for a new addition to the family!
As we’ve previously cautioned, health care costs related to maternity can be high – sometimes frighteningly high. Maternity coverage is important and worth being proactive in securing if you’re thinking of adding to your family. Okay – let’s say you are pregnant and the possibility of maternity coverage via your current California health insurance strategy is no longer an available option. Are you completely shut out of the health coverage marketplace? Not necessarily. You can rely on Vitality to help you reach out to the resources available via the state’s Access for Infants and Mothers Program. AIM is an important resource for income-eligible pregnant women here in the state: Since the team here at Vitality is dedicated to the power of the Web and social media to help serve the health insurance needs of consumers, we thought we’d pass along the AIM Facebook Page which we thought did a solid job of conveying the program’s important benefits to its intended audience!
