Sticker Shock (Nursing Homes)

[Abby2006]

Been doing some checking around, and would you believe that a 'not' upscale home is $130,000.00 a year (not I did not add to many zero's) and to use my home instead people its $109.000.00 a year.

I should have gotten some long term life insurance a long tme ago, I called my insurance guy and he laughed, me get any insurance this late in the game no way.

I really was taken aback at the sticker

Abby

[Lyon]

My wife and I work for a major university with thousands of employees.

She just found out that long term care insurance is available for people in her union for $700/month. That's a considerable amount, but as you mentioned, is way cheaper than a nursing home.

My wife was only diagnosed a little over two years ago and has no symptoms. All she has is the diagnosis, but when she checked into the long term care insurance, the diagnosis alone kept her from getting a policy.

Additionally, the guy told her that even if she hadn't admitted her diagnosis, they would have checked her record and discovered the diagnosis before they would have paid out.
I called my insurance guy and he laughed, me get any insurance this late in the game no way. No sense kicking yourself in the butt. It seems that you could have only gotten a policy before diagnosis, and who is going to spend $700 a month without a reason to think that you're going to need it?

Bob

[renee]

I'm looking for a commune or something gypsylike. Cheap.

I'd be much happier and last longer in a circus environment.
Multi-generational, multi-species.

Thats the life for me- even recumbent.

[MS Bites]

My wife and I applied for LTC insurance. She got it, I did not. I can't even get additional life insurance. My wife's LTC premium is about $200 a year through a professional society. We are mid-40s.

She does not have any disease.... I do. Whenever you want any insurance, get it before you are ill.

[Abby2006]

Renee I can 'dig' it

Abby-http://img89.**********.us/img89/230/hippieemoticoniy6.gif

[Jules A]

Hi,
I just wanted to clarify that those of you who have been denied were denied under group policies also? I was kind of hoping they had to take us just like they do for regular health insurance through an employer. :(

[Annie123]

I saw a report on the TV news (forget which network) that paying into such a policy is verrrrrrrry risky because there is no guarantee those companies will be in business to pay out in twenty years *and* most important, because during those 20 years, the premiums *will* increase, allowed by changes in law, otherwise those companies will definitely go out of business because no insurance company can predict what will happen to variables over those 20 years..........

The insurance companies are hoping most people will drop their policies over time because the premiums will become too expensive for people to keep paying, especially in their retirement years when incomes are usually lower.

Pay special attention to exactly how the very small print is worded -- the nursing home that you have pictured in your mind in not necessarily the one you'll end up getting. There are three types of LTC policies, and they all limit payouts which means you could be liable for the difference.

If you do pay premiums, make sure the insurance company is one that has been around for at least 20 years with a stellar reputation *and* look into what I've said in this post -- do your research and best of luck to all.

I do not have LTC insurance nor would I pay for it if I could -- I will not pay such money for something that may not be there for me anyway when I eventually need it *plus* I need such money now for more important things and therefore could not afford it anyway.

I'm going to let the government worry about it -- after all, they won't just leave me out on the street, will they? <sigh>

This is an interesting newspaper article everyone should read:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080219/OPINION03/802190367/-1/NEWS04

[stillstANNding]

I'm goin' with Renee and Abby.

ANN:)

[bluesky63]

Something like the Rainbow Farm? :-)

[Lyon]

Hi,
I just wanted to clarify that those of you who have been denied were denied under group policies also? I was kind of hoping they had to take us just like they do for regular health insurance through an employer. :( Our health insurance is a group policy but the LTC coverage is optional and employee paid, I think that makes a difference.

Her diagnosis hasn't affected her health insurance coverage at all.
Bob

[BBS1951]

My MIL's skilled nursing home was 74K per year and it was a terrific place! But, once the money runs out, then she is switched to Medicaid and she stays there on Medicaid's dime. However, she passed away before she ran out of money.

[Cat Dancer]

The most expensive nursing home I could find in my area is around $65,000 / year. For the amount Abby posted, I'd hire help.

[agate]

In the state I live in, if you're on Medicaid/Medicare only when you enter a nursing home, you go to one of the (few) nursing homes that will accept Medicaid/Medicare patients, and they tend to be of lower quality than other nursing homes.

Also, several people I've known who have gone this route have found that they get bounced around more or less at the whim of the nursing home and other places like hospitals, rehab centers, and assisted living centers. It can add up to a lot of bouncing around, with little or no advance notice.

[Jules A]

Our health insurance is a group policy but the LTC coverage is optional and employee paid, I think that makes a difference.

Her diagnosis hasn't affected her health insurance coverage at all.
Bob

Thanks Bob.

[Mariel]

Even "retirement homes" with assisted living are too expensive for us. We looked at them last year while renting in Seattle. The cheapest ones cost more per year than our income, and we thought we had a pretty good retirement income. However, we were thinking too big. We were looking at places of perhaps 850=900 square feet with two bathrooms. Maybe we could afford a place with one bathroom, but it's the food which makes the cost go up when there are two people eating. And the food we saw in those places would kill both of us quickly--Swank diet, forget it! Diet for heart, forget it! There probably are places which do provide better food, but undoubtedly they cost more. I saw a very nice one in San Diego, where four friends retired, and their idea of a low fat meal was low fat hamburger. I have not eaten red meat for twenty years. I have not eaten ordinary maionnaise for almost as long....and they would never do both my MS and Porphyria diets, combined with Irv's heart diet for his calcified valve.

An agent encouraged us to consider Long Term Care but it was denied because of my MS dx. That is, denied for me. Irv said he did not want it, as it was unfair to me. I was walking, productive, still working, but no LTC for me. they were embarrassed because they had tried to get us interested, only to find I was non-insurable.

One thing I did get at work was private disability, and that carried me until my Social Security disability came into play. I still get small checks from that--a very good investment.

I understand how you guys feel who are looking at nursing homes. We have only considered "assisted care" so far, but we know the difficulty we will face if one goes into a nursing home. They are designed for widows and widowers. I looked into it heavily this year, to be prepared. I found they would reduce me to a place I could not stay in my home if Irv went to a nursing home first; my income would go 2/3 to the mortgage, and I would not have enough to eat any month, let alone buy gasoline or car insurance. We were prudent and had a paid-off mortgage until FEMA ruined us in the Cerro Grande fire, a story some of you know about. I am trying to sell this house before I lose it in a year, due to using up our savings and inflation, but I will have to sell at a loss, and we will not be able to afford a nursing home without "suing". I hear there are lawyers who specialize in getting people into Medicaid homes, suing the gov't to get them in....Irv will be better off, with his higher income, if I'm the first to go into a home, but he will have no one to take care of him as I do. So neither of us can live if the other goes into a home.

We did not expect to be poor in our old age, as we planned carefully. Having to retire young did hurt my income.

I know lots of you will be in this position, and I pray for you all.

[TheSleeper]

I'm looking for a commune or something gypsylike. Cheap.

LOL I wonder if my zoning permits that?

A farm for growing lesions?

[renee]

Where is this Rainbow Farm, BS?
Anything to do w/the Rainbow gathering?

Sleeper, see what you can do.
Except that its darn cold out there, I could dig living on a farm in Ohio.
My dad was a native- kinda like Jonathan Winters mute brother.
California wine country would be sweet, too.

Nursing institutions bite. I've done a short, poor mans tour and the commune alternative (or a circus) must be better.

[Jules A]

We probably shouldn't get our hopes up. I'd love to head for a hippie commune also but last I heard there is a shortage of skilled nurses living on those farms that are willing to provide care for free. :D

[Abby2006]

Sounds like a plan

http://img89.**********.us/img89/230/hippieemoticoniy6.gif

[Abby2006]

Annie the gov, does not care if we are homeless.

Now lets talk homeless, how would one go about that, got rid of my car so don't have that to use as a roof over my head.

Since as you know I do news, well something came across the other day in regard to people loosing their homes etc. they are living in those self storage (gves new meaning to the word 'self') and somewhere I forget where someone was clued into what people were dong and opened up one of those truck stop places, you've seen them you can pay and take a shower etc.

Abby

[Mariel]

Living in a self-storage place sounds pretty good, if you can pay to take a shower nearby, hoping you have enough to pay for that. But theft would be rampant if it is known some residents were disabled.

Here in Los Alamos we had little theft until recently, and people often never locked their doors except when leaving for several weeks. But recently there were nine car break-ins on one day, with electronic and ski equipment stolen. I know why, don't you? Because people are desperate for money. They steal these things, sell them for what they can, and they can eat for a couple of weeks or a month if they get something highy valuable. We have lots of unemployed here, even highly educated people. The Cerro Grande fire ruined a lot of people a few years ago, and many never recovered, but now economic conditions are even worse.
Garbage piled on garbage, to use fairly polite words.

So the storage places sound nice if they were all in a warm climate with Security guards. Some folks with MS, who can't move a lot, can aim a gun and man a cell phone to the police. They could be guards.

Those of us who still walk can make a dining hall with organic food, low fat for those who are Swanking, and greasy spoon for those who think they may as well just eat what comes along. We're going to be grateful for whatever comes along soon....but most of us can't spend top dollar to have bad food served in "retirement homes."

Mariel