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Long-Term Care Insurance for LGBT People

  October 10, 2017  |    #Live Fabulously

The need for long-term care insurance for LGBT people

An alarming 36% of LGBT people say they’d rather spend for today than prepare for tomorrow. But what happens at the end of your life and you need medical or nursing-assistance, either in-home or in a nursing facility? The answer may be long-term care insurance for LGBT people.

Listen to Queer Money™ about long-term care insurance for LGBT people

Ryan Taylor educates us on long-term care insurance for LGBT people

According to AARP, the lifetime probability of becoming disabled and needing long-term care is a whopping 68% of people over the age of 65. The average cost of long-term care is currently about $6,000 per month. That’s a lot! Long-term care insurance for LGBT people provides the peace of mind that you’ll get the care you need to go out with the dignity you want.

Ryan Taylor is the founder of LGBT Financial, the premier resource for LGBT financial services. After earning degrees in International Business, Finance, and Economics from Utah State University, Ryan lived and worked abroad for several years before settling in Salt Lake City. He’s been a financial advisor with MassMutual Intermountain West since July of 2015. Ryan founded LGBT Financial in February of 2016 to help individuals and families from all walks of life in a comfortable and safe environment navigate and plan for their most important financial decisions.

Ryan is also the founder and host of Salt Lake City’s LGBT Show, and a member of the Utah Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Today he explains the fundamentals of long-term care insurance for LGBT people, from the specifics of what a policy covers to the waiting period before coverage kicks into the reimbursement process. Ryan addresses the best time to secure long-term care insurance for LGBT people and others, the percentage of people who qualify and a hybrid product that couples long-term care insurance with life insurance.

Listen to today’s Queer Money™ to understand the benefits of having a financial advisor assist you in planning for the future, which likely includes long-term care for LGBT people if you’re LGBT – then it’s just long-term care insurance.

Topics Covered about long-term care insurance for LGBT people

The ABCs of LGBT Financial

  • Based in Salt Lake City, Utah (diverse, liberal oasis)
  • Designed as a comfortable, safe space for financial planning
  • Founded February 2016

Why Ryan created LGBT Financial

  • ‘Natural fit’
  • Help from a financial planner who can empathize
  • Plan with partner/family in comfortable space

The buying power of the LGBT community

  • $971B in US alone
  • So-called ‘pink money’ can be a double-edged sword

The fundamentals of long-term care insurance for LGBT people and others

  • Typically need at end of life
  • Covers in-home care or care in a nursing facility
  • Cost outpaces inflation
  • LGBT couples raising children on the decline
  • Long-term care second only to taxes as wealth erosion factor in retirement

Ryan’s advice around when to purchase long-term care insurance for LGBT people and others

  • Wait too late, maybe uninsurable
  • Ideally between ages 45-55
  • Sooner the better (less cost, more likely to be insurable)

The specifics of what long-term care insurance for LGBT people covers

  • Activities of daily living
  • Feed/transfer self, walk, use the bathroom
  • Dementia, Alzheimer’s
  • In-home care, nursing home, or extended hospital stay (up to certain $ amount)

The current costs of long-term care for LGBT people and others

  • $6,000/month average cost
  • Average claim between three and four years
  • Some go on multiple claims in lifetime

The waiting period before long-term care for LGBT people and others kicks in

  • Depends on the company, how policy structured
  • Pay more for a shorter wait period
  • Longest is six months
  • Most choose 60-90 days
  • Some companies reimburse for the waiting period

How Medicaid fits into the picture of long-term care

  • Use long-term care coverage first, then Medicaid spend down for eligibility
  • Those without long-term care pay out-of-pocket until eligible for Medicaid

An example of long-term care insurance premiums

  • Ryan’s parents in 50s, good health
  • Standalone care with couple discount
  • Pay $3,000 per year
  • The cheapest way to cover, but sunk cost if never use

How premiums are affected by sexual orientation

  • The lifestyle itself doesn’t affect premiums
  • Some companies increase the price for consistent use of Truvada
  • Inequity for the transgender community, industry moving toward unisex ratings

The percentage of people who qualify for long-term care

  • 1:4 who applied got approved (2015)
  • People tend to apply too late (already in need of care)

The accelerated death benefit on life insurance as a backup to long-term care insurance for LGBT people and others

  • Some life insurance policies include, others add terminal illness rider at extra cost
  • Make death benefit accessible (i.e.: six months to live)
  • Not long-term fix
  • Can be included on both whole or term life insurance

The reimbursement process for long-term care insurance

  • Reimbursement schedule ($300/day)
  • Send receipts
  • Company will vet every expense
  • More you pay, less company will fight you

The tax consequences of long-term care payouts

  • Considered healthcare expense (usually tax-deductible)
  • No taxable consequence

The possibility of a cash payout in the case of sudden death

  • Some will reimburse premium
  • No standard of death benefit

The three ways to fund long-term care

  • Retirement dollars
  • Standalone long-term care policy
  • Couple long-term care with life insurance (hybrid)

The benefits of the hybrid product

Provides death benefit and access to long-term care
Makes long-term care insurance more affordable
Unlocks death benefit when needed (true living benefit)
Whatever is left passes as a death benefit when you die
Very popular among single people in the LGBT community

Connect with Ryan of LGBT Financial

Resources for long-term care insurance for LGBT people

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