- 1). Determine whether you need long-term care insurance. If you don't have any assets or property to protect, consider whether Medicaid would be able to meet your long-term care needs. Medicaid pays for nursing home and home health care for those with fairly low incomes and limited assets. Contact your local Medicaid office for information specific to your state.
- 2). Decide how much you can afford to pay for long-term care insurance, and roughly how much coverage you'd like to purchase. For example, if you have some assets you're willing to spend on long-term care, you may want to purchase less coverage. Take into consideration how much nursing home costs in your area or the area where you're planning to apply.
- 3). Contact insurance companies for a long-term care quote. If you have access to long-term care insurance through a current or former employer (or your spouse's), get a quote from that plan. If the company you contact insists on a personal visit by an agent, either move on to another company or make an appointment, but be firm on not filling out an application or writing a check during an initial appointment.
- 4). Review your insurance quotes. Compare each plan's premium, benefit period, maximum benefit, and elimination period. The premium is how much you pay each month or year. The benefit period is the minimum amount of time the policy will last. For example, many plans have a 1,095-day benefit period. This means that if you use the maximum daily benefit every day, your plan will last 1095 days (three years). Look for the maximum daily, weekly or monthly benefit. The elimination period is the period of time you will need to pay for covered services before the plan begins coverage. A 90-day elimination period means that once you're approved to use the policy, you will pay for care for 90 days before the plan begins to pay benefits.
- 5). Confirm that each plan covers home health care, assisted living, adult day care and nursing facility care. Also confirm that the plan has inflation protection, which will increase your benefits each year to keep up with inflation.
- 6). Apply for the plan that makes the most sense for you. Answer all application questions honestly. You will need to provide a medical history, a list of prescriptions and contact information for your health care providers. The insurance company will order your medical records as part of the underwriting (decision-making) process, and you may also need to complete a telephone or in-person assessment of your health and memory.
- 7). Review your policy if you're approved for coverage. Confirm when you can use your benefit. Generally, if you're mentally incapacitated or unable to perform two or more activities of daily living (eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring and continence), you benefits will start. Double-check the elimination period and benefits. If, for any reason, you decide you don't want the policy, you have up to 30 days to return it and receive a full refund of any premiums paid. If you're declined, write the insurance company to find out why. If the medical information the company received was inaccurate, contact your doctor for a letter of correction and submit it for an appeal. You can also apply with a different company; each company sets its own standards for who will be accepted for coverage.
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