Long Term Care
With people living longer many of us could look forward to 20, or even 30 years or more of retirement. But the chances of being perfectly healthy and able throughout that time are, unfortunately, not so good.
The need for long term care and how it should be paid for is arguably one of the greatest causes for concern among our growing elderly population. Statistics show that from age 60, one in three women and one in four men will require some form of care on a long-term basis.
Almost half a million people are in long term care (residential care homes and long stay hospitals).
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One of the problems for the current generation of elderly people is that they were brought up to believe that the State would look after them ‘from cradle to grave’. Sadly this is not usually the case. Although the NHS provides free medical care in hospitals, the provision of long term care outside hospitals is now the responsibility of individual local authorities and is not free to everyone.
In the UK should you need residential or nursing care, your local authority will assess your means to determine what proportion of the cost is your responsibility.
If you have assets of more than £23,250 (£22,750 in Scotland) you will not be entitled to any financial assistance from your local authority for long term care costs in a nursing or residential home. If your assets are between £14,250 and £23,250 (£14,000 and £22,750 in Scotland) some financial assistance could be given by your local authority. For those with assets of less than £14,250 (£14,000 in Scotland), care will be provided, but you will have to give up all your income (apart from a personal weekly spending allowance of approximately £23.00) to the local authority.
Even at this rate, there is still often a big shortfall between the cost of the nursing home and what the State will pay. Many thousands of people have concluded that a long term care insurance plan is the most sensible and cost effective way for them to fund long term care, if it were needed.
A long term care insurance plan could partially or fully provide for your care needs, protect your assets and income whilst providing you with the security you seek in later life.
Long term care plans fall into the following three main categories:
- Immediate Need Schemes
- Pre-funded Long Term Care Insurance
- Long Term Care Bonds
So if you are reviewing how you are going to fund long term care should you need it, utilise our
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