In a previous article, I made the statement:
“You can probably get better benefits for less premium if you purchase your own long-term care policy rather than enrolling in a group long-term care policy.”
There are 2 main reasons:
- Individually-purchased long-term care policies offer large discounts for couples.
- Individualy-purchased long-term care policies offer large preferred health discounts.
Long-term care policies you can buy on your own usually have “couples discounts”–sometimes as high as 40%.
These discounts are usually available to domestic partners, not just married couples. These discounts can even be available if one spouse is uninsurable.
People who buy a long-term care policy on their own can often qualify for preferred health discounts as high as 33%, even if they have some health problems.
Most group long-term care policies charge everyone in the group the same rate, regardless of health history. With most group long-term care policies, someone who is in great health pays the same rates as someone who has severe diabetes, severe arthritis, or a history of a stroke.
With a long-term care policy you buy on your own, you can qualify for the “Preferred Health Discount” even if you have health problems like:
- high blood pressure
- anxiety
- high cholesterol
- thyroid disorders
- skin cancer
- osteopenia
- mild arthritis
- asthma
- enlarged prostate
- carpal tunnel
- GERD
- glaucoma
- heart murmur
- herniated disc
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- Crohn’s disease
- macular degeneration
- mitral valve prolapse
- kidney stones
- benign polyps
- scoliosis
- TMJ
- familial tremors, and
- ulcers
To learn more read:
The Most Common Mistake: Group long-term care insurance often costs more and offers less!
Confusing the two types of Inflation Benefit
