It’s time for this boomer to take action

This weekend it hit me. In August my husband turns 60 and I’m not that far behind. The issues that I used to deal with for my parents are now a personal reality. My doctor’s visits include checking for osteoporosis, high cholesterol, and I have a colonoscopy coming up.  I’ve got to face facts, I’m not getting any younger and by taking care of my health and long term care insurance  while we can afford it, I can be assured that I’m at least financially ready rather than HOPING that I’ll never need it.

Statistics show that 70% of people over the age of 65 (which for hubby is only 5 years away & 6½ for me) will need long-term care. If I were retiring with a BOATLOAD of money that I wanted to toss away, I wouldn’t worry, but unfortunately we’re ALREADY retired and as the cost of living gets higher, our resources are getting lower. There’s NO WAY that we could afford to pay $250 a day for care.  We’d be wiped out in a short period of time, and I don’t know what I’d do.

Yesterday (Mother’s Day) we called my mother-in-law who’s in a nursing home , which is probably what got this whole idea of taking control of our lives came about.  Unfortunately, she didn’t have a policy so the entire family chips in for her care. If we buy insurance to cover our long-term care NOW, we won’t have to burden Ben with our medical bills.  So, of course I did what any diligent blogger would do…I turned to the internet (and the Wall Street Journal which just happened to have an article about purchasing this type of insurance in The Journal Report today).

I learned that we can actually buy a SHARED policy which wouldn’t cost us as much money and we’d have a comfortable amount saved to cover any eventual long-term-care bills we might have.  Today’s WSJ had a list of the median annual costs for long term healthcare from Genworth Financial’s 2012 Cost of Care Survey, and they’re a bit staggering…

• Homemaker Services – $41,184
• Home Health Aide Services – $43,472
• Adult Day Health Care – $15,860
• Assisted Living Facility – $39,600 (1 bedroom/single occupancy)
• Nursing Home – $73,000 (semi-private room)
• Nursing home – $81,030 (private room)

Yes…that’s PER YEAR, not per lifetime. Can you imagine getting sick and having to spend 10 years in a nursing home? For the costs in your area, click on your state in the graphic below.

Thankfully, for me there are options, especially since we’re both members of AARP, and they offer insurance for long-term healthcare as well as ADVICE for choosing a caregiver.  I just know that we’ll both feel a lot better knowing that no matter WHAT happens, we’ll be covered.

I wrote this post on behalf of a relationship with Genworth Financial. I really am that old, really do need long-term health insurance and really DO belong to AARP. Just don’t tell anyone!