Ever think about or deal with Long Term Care/or Insurance for L-T Care?

Our family has had the same insurance company person for personal and businesses for 25 years. I am confident that "Pat" is honest and would never put me into some policy that was not suitable.
I asked her to put together a proposal that would cost about $1200/month, which is equal to my social security benefit.
I'll bring it home from the office tomorrow.
For the benefit of those of yall with little or no direct experience with these facilities, I do know this. A nice assisted living facility, one that you would be quite happy with, can run $5000 a month (here in Charlottesville), and the cost is only going to go up. Scary, huh?

Believe it or not, one factor keeping me from getting the insurance is that both sets of my grandparents, both parents and my older brother essentially dropped dead. No messing around with L/T care in our family!

This is a tough one. I've explored the healthcare/insurance industry for years and the news is not good. There are so many nightmare stories about people not getting the kind of long term care they thought had paid for through insurance. You can find horror stories all over the net. You have to really examine any policy from top to bottom and I recommend a lawyer be involved to seek out the small print. You also have to watch for changes that are made during the life of the policy as you age. Also be aware that many of the best care facilities do not want the hassle of dealing with some insurance agencies, so you might want to do a little research in that direction also. Insurance companies are not our friends. Their sole interest is in making money.

Many Americans will lose everything at the end of their lives because we have no safety net. Medicare covers less than most people think. Medicare typically pays for 21 days of nursing home care and after that you have to sell the house and liquidate the savings before you see another dime towards institutional care. People save for years thinking they will leave a nice inheritance to their children only to end up losing it in a few months because of nursing home care.

Linkat, you might be better off fighting for a change in our medical system in this country. You should also speak to an estate lawyer.

I just posted this site earlier on another thread, but not to this specific link:
http://www.aarp.org/issues/dividedwefail/health/longterm_care.html

It is and that is the worry - that they will run out of money. And then you begin to think about yourself - you don't want to be dumped in some sh*t hole because you can't afford 5k/month.

Thanks I'll take a look through. I also was concerned about changes 30/40/50 years from now when I am more likely to need assisted living.