Long term care insurance provides individuals with a weekly tax free benefit in the event that they would require assistance with 2 of the 6 activities of daily living. Those activities include bathing, dressing, eating, maintaining continence, toileting, and transferring (Check the appropriate policies for more details). The proceeds received from a long term care policy can help prevent individuals from having to deplete their saving and/or forcing their family into debt due to unforeseen or unplanned for medical expenses. There are several factors to investigate when determining which long term care policy is right for you.
Be sure to also check out our Long-Term Care – Basic Vocabulary and Definitions, as well as our Critical Illness and Disability Insurance Tips section.
Assisted living has become increasingly popular with seniors who want to maintain an independent lifestyle while getting some help with daily life activities and reassurance that help is available round the clock, if required. For those planning for their future, a retirement community is a great option for when you need additional help and don’t want burden your loved ones. However, as assisted living arrangements are not covered under provincial health insurance plan, many people are ...
Continue readingIf you've already seen Marvel's latest summer blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy, or even if you've just watched the trailer, one thing becomes immediately clear: the scene stealer for the entire movie is an anthropomorphic, trigger-happy raccoon voiced by Bradley Cooper. This is Rocket Raccoon, and he was co-created for Marvel Comics in 1976 by writer Bill Mantlo. In the '70s and '80s, Bill was one of the top writers for Marvel Comics. He could turn out scripts at a breakneck pace, ...
Continue readingDesjardins Financial recently made available a long-term care advance on its universal life foundation policies. Canada.com reports that Canada's rapidly aging population has led to a 38% increase of seniors living in nursing homes or other collective care facilities over the last ten years. This make sense given thatthe total amount of Canadians aged 65 and over went from about 3.9 million in 2001 to about 4.9 million in 2011, according to Statistics Canada. Of course, such a jump in ...
Continue readingDaniel Kahan is strongly in favour of viatical settlements. Selling your life insurance benefit for cash upfront to a third party is illegal in most provinces in Canada — except Quebec, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. But proponents like Daniel Kahan say that viatical settlements can be a viable income alternative to those who currently need long-term care or are now suffering from a critical illness and wouldn't qualify for traditional long-term care or critical illness ...
Continue readingAs reported in the mid-January 2013 issue of the Insurance and Investment Journal, sales of Long-Term Care Insurance in Canada continue to stagnate, and recent events have not helped matters. RBC Insurance withdrew its long-term care products from the market, and historically low interest rates have forced other suppliers to raise their premiums. Further highlighted in the article, consumers are being approached for long-term care insurance at ages too advanced to make it worth their ...
Continue readingWhen you're in a dispute with an insurance company, what you do first should depend entirely on the type of claim you have. This could be a personal injury claim, a contractual claim, a long-term disability claim, or a property claim. They all lead back to the insurance contract, but there are different resolutions depending on the type of claim you have. Property Damage Probably the most common type of claim is property damage claims. "Your first line of resolution ispresenting the ...
Continue readingLiving benefits are health-related insurance plans. Living benefit insurance is very different from life insurance because it pays out if the insured develops a type of injury or illness. Living benefit insurance policies generally come in four distinct types: Disability Insurance, Critical Illness Insurance, Long-term Care Insurance, and Health and Dental Insurance. For your benefit, we've provided a summary of each coverage category. 1. Disability Insurance:This living ...
Continue readingDan Heap is now a shadow of his former self. According to the Toronto Star, the man who once advocated for refugee and workers' rights is now ailing in a retirement home following a heart attack and a 2005 Alzheimer's diagnosis. He is now on a waiting list for long-term care and since the retirement residence he was living in told his wife they could no longer meet the couple's needs last December, his family now keeps a 24/7 vigil just to help Heap execute the basics of daily ...
Continue readingManulife Financial offers non-medical conversion from its Disability Insurance policies to its Long-Term Care Insurance program. The following is an example of how the program works: A Manulife client who has a $2,000 monthly indemnity disability plan would be able to convert up to $2,000.00 a month of Manulife Long-Term Care Facility coverage or $1,000 a month of in home care coverage. Those clients older than 65 will have the amounts available for conversion scaled back. There are no ...
Continue readingRecent statistics compiled by the Life Insurance Marketing Research Association [LIMRA], and published in the January 2010 issue of the Insurance Journal, have shown that there were only 7,847 long-term care policies sold in 2008 - marking a decline compared to the previous year. In total, there were only 60,000 long-term care policies in-force in Canada at the end of 2008, accounting for $80 million in annual premiums. Since there are 85,000 advisors licensed to sell ...
Continue readingWhile the number of long-term care policies being sold in Canada is rising, the number of Canadians who are properly insured is still extremely low. In some instances, its due to misunderstanding and myth. The following are five myths surrounding Long Term Care Insurance: "My Family Will Take Care of Me" This would have been more likely years ago, when adult children tended to live closer to their parents and women stayed at home. In today's society, children may live across the ...
Continue readingWe are always surveying the latest and greatest insurance plans available in Canada and today we are breaking down the advantages/disadvantages of some of leading long-term care plans in Canada. We do the work, so you don't have to. In 2008, LIMRA, a financial research firm, introduced stats that underscore the importance of getting long-term care insurance early. These include the following: One in five Americans over age 65 will require some form of long-term ...
Continue readingLong-term care insurance was first sold in the U.S. in 1987, with Canada following in the early 90s, and there is still a limited number of Canadians with long-term care policies. That is why we have seven reasons why you should consider buying long-term care insurance now. 1. Aging population - According to Statistics Canada, one in every seven Canadians is 65 and over. 2. Cost of care increasing in Canada. The Canadian government already spends $3.9 billion on Alzheimer's and ...
Continue readingPeople claim Long-term Care benefits for a variety of reasons, but Life Plans has released the definitive top five reasons the average claimant (about 61.6-years-old) files a claim. The top five reasons that long-term care policy holders go on claim are: 1. Alzheimer's disease or related dementia. (www.alzheimer.ca) 2. Stroke. (www.heartandstroke.on.ca) 3. Injury. 4. Cancer. (www.cancer.ca) 5. Other. For more details on long-term care insurance, policies in ...
Continue readingLIMRA's long-term Care statistics for 2008 shows that, while the number of long-term care policies being sold in the United States is rising, the number of Americans who are properly insured is still extremely low. The data they reveal include the following: One in five Americans over age 65 will require some form of long-term assistance. Only 61,000 Americans have long-term care policies. There ...
Continue readingMany Canadian insurance companies carry a Long-term Care plan, but we know how hard it can be to tell the differences between them all. That is why we have taken the liberty of breaking down three Long-term Care plans from three of Canada's leading insurance providers. First in this series is Sun Life Financial: Pros Rolling five year guarantee (guaranteed to remain the same for five years). Zero elimination period available for facility care. ...
Continue readingThe following is a snapshot of Manulife's underwriting requirements on their Long-term Care plan called Living Care. They do have the right to alter those requirements depending on the insured's health history. Age 70 Living Care application Telephone interview Age 71 or older Living Care application Face-to-face interview The insured's doctor will also be contacted to verify additional medical information. As a rule of thumb, Manulife does not ...
Continue readingManulife's Long-term Care plan, called LivingCare, is unique to the industry in that it is available on a single-life basis or a shared coverage option. Additionally, rather than having a set weekly or monthly benefit, Manulife allows the insured to choose a maximum benefit of up to $1,000,000 for single-life coverage or $2,000,000 for shared coverage between couples. The insured then chooses a benefit amount for single-life between 0.5% and 2% and for couples, between 0.25% and 1%. The ...
Continue readingThere are certain things all potential applicants should know before buying Long-term Care Insurance. It's our hope that the following facts will arm you with the valuable information you need to make the right decision for you and your family: The first individual Long-term Care policies were sold in the U.S. in the early 80s, according to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, with Canada following suit in the early 90s. Only a handful of insurance companies offer ...
Continue readingPenncorp Life Insurance specializes in disability insurance for self-employed individuals and small business owners. On Nov. 14, 2008, the company announced the launch of their Long-term Care plan, called One Step Long-Term Care. Other Long-Term Care plans in the Canadian marketplace require that the insured is unable to perform at least two basic activities of daily living. (washing, dressing, feeding, transferring, toileting and continence) With the One Step Long-term Care Plan only ...
Continue readingThe Canadian Association for the Fifty-Plus (CARP), formerly known as the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, offers a Long-term Care insurance program to its members that is underwritten by Desjardins. The program offers essentially the same features and pricing as the plan offered by Desjardins independent brokers. The plan's premiums are guaranteed within the first five policy years and then subsequent premiums can go up on a class slide basis. The CARP Long-term Care program ...
Continue readingThe underwriting criteria for Long-term Care insurance can be significantly different than for life insurance. Life insurance looks at mortality risks such as heart disease, build or lifestyle, but Long-term Care looks at mobility and cognitive issues. These factors can significantly increase the likelihood the insured will require care. The list below outlines some of the issues an underwriter will consider when evaluating a Long-term Care application: Cognitive ...
Continue readingNearly half of all Canadians over the age of 65 will need some sort of long-term care. While the government will cover some of these costs, there are limits not only to how much they will cover, but also the types of expenses they will cover. This is compounded by increasing government cutbacks on health care. In B.C., 4,400 MRIs will be cut in Victoria to cover a $45 million shortfall, while Vancouver is considering cutting more than 6,000 surgeries to make up for its own $200 million ...
Continue readingMost Long Term Care insurance policies in Canada will pay a tax free daily benefit once the insured's physician provides certification that the insured requires care in a facility or at home because of his/hers inability to perform two or more specified activities of daily living — bathing, dressing, eating, maintaining continence, toileting, or transferring. Most plans offer a Facility Care benefit as their base coverage. The benefit is typically payable when the insured ...
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