In denial about long-term care?
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, April 28th, 2007
Ten years ago, my dad brought together my two older brothers, my older
sister and me for a family meeting. Dad had recently placed Mom into
the Alzheimer's unit in a nursing home after wrenching years of
forgetfulness, wandering, incontinence, anger and fear.
"It
costs $35,000 a year," he said. "I don't know if she's going to be
there for 10 months or 10 years, but there's a good chance you kids
will never see an inheritance."
After that meeting, we watched as
Mom and our parents' life savings declined each year. Mom slowly lost
her ability to walk, speak, feed herself or recognize anyone but our
father. Dad tried to buy nursing home insurance for Mom before her
dementia worsened. She never got it.
After seven years in the
nursing home, she died in December 2005. The bills came to $361,000.
Dad paid all of it out of their life savings. He told us to plan for
our own future. So this year I will become one of the small number of
Minnesotans with long-term-care insurance.
Most Americans don't have a clue about how much such insurance costs,
and if they do need long-term care, they think the government will pick
up the tab, according to the AARP. Only about 180,000 Minnesotans are
covered by nursing home insurance, according to the Department of
Commerce. The average age of those policyholders is 56, the median age
about 60.
Read more of this article. Learn more about Long Term Care Insurance.