Some 264,000 individuals were receiving long term care insurance benefit payments as of December 31, 2012 according to a just-released report.
“Insurers paid $6.6 billion in benefits last year to individuals needing care at home, in assisted living communities as well as in skilled nursing facilities,” explains Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance that released the findings. “At a time when so much is written about rate increases and changing markets, there is no more important story to tell than the fact that the nation’s long term care insurers pay claims, and lots of them.”
According to the Association, leading causes for long term care insurance claims include Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, arthritis and cancer. Female policyholders account for roughly two-thirds of all long-term care insurance claims and benefit dollars paid by the industry. Care received in the home accounts for half of all newly opened individual insurance claims AALTCI reports. “People associate long term care with nursing home care but insurance actually enables many people to remain at home when care is needed,” Slome adds.
Eight million Americans currently have some form of long term care insurance protection. ”More people recognize the value of this protection which does so much more than just pay for qualifying care,” explains Bill Jones, President of The MedAmerica Companies, a family of leading long term care insurance carriers. ”Long term care insurance provides choice and control, protects retirements and lifestyles, and allows loved ones to care about you rather than being forced to care for you. You can’t put a price on that kind of value.”
The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance is the national trade organization established in 1998 to create awareness regarding the importance of planning for long term care. Slome created Long Term Care Awareness Month (November) and organizes the National Long Term Care Insurance Sales Summit, the industry’s largest gathering for producers from all different distribution systems.
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