5. Make sure you buy enough benefit, but don't buy more than you need. The plan must fit your budget. If you can't afford the premium you might drop the plan when you need it the most. Investigate other sources of income. How much could you contribute to home health care costs? What about family members? Remember if you are confined to a nursing home, you will not have a car, take cruises or pay a mortgage or rent. A good agent will give you options and discuss the possibilities with you.

6. The younger you are when you buy the plan, the cheaper it will be. The plans we represent have never increased their rates. If you wait too long you might not be able to afford enough benefit. Even worse, your health could change and then you will be unable to purchase a plan. Stop procrastinating. You aren't getting any younger and they don't hold sales on Florida long term insurance.

7. For reasons we cannot fathom, we have found that many people buy a Florida long term care plan from one of the following:
- The last agent who visits them ( they are totally disgusted at this point)
- The one who reminded them of their son or daughter (Dad! Mom!)
- The "sweet" one (makes you want to puke doesn't it?)
- The agent with the nice suit who made them feel stupid if they bought any other plan. (Maybe I should buy a suit)
- The cheapest plan (Wait until they start to get their increases)
- Or the agent that told you they just sold the same plan to their mother.

How much benefit should I buy?
As this is being written, a month in a quality Florida nursing home could easily cost $200 a day. Rates vary depending on where you live. A home health aide would run $15 to $20 an hour from a licensed agency. You can sometimes find lower rates on a weekly or monthly basis. The type and amount of care you might need to stay in your own home will vary. Nevertheless, most of us could not afford these rates for very long. On the other hand, you have to be realistic about how much you can afford to spend on insurance. There are limits and you really need to think this through. You will not find an answer in this guide. That is the job of a professional long term care agent. When we visit a client we take in many factors to help them decide on how much coverage is required.

Most Florida long term care insurance policies pay a maximum fixed dollar amount for each day you receive covered services. When you buy a policy, you decide the value of the fixed dollar amount and the length of time your benefits will run. For example, if you buy a policy that pays $100 per day for three years, the policy value is $109,500 a figure that is computed by multiplying 365 days times 3 years for the maximum number of days multiplied by $100, the amount the policy will pay per day. Remember that no policy guarantees to cover all costs of long term care without a limit.

Because most retirement income is fixed and may not keep pace with inflation, your ability to afford premiums may diminish. Buying too much insurance may mean that you cannot afford to pay the premium later. The four components used to determine how much insurance to buy are:

- Benefit Amount
- Inflation Adjustment
- Benefit Period
- Elimination Period

Benefit Amount is the maximum fixed dollar amount that a policy will pay each day. A potential purchaser of Florida long term care insurance usually has the option to choose a daily benefit amount ranging from $40 per day to $300 per day for nursing facility coverage. Couples, likely to need the entire income for the other spouse, should figure that no income will go to cover long term care costs. The difference between the cost of a good nursing facility and the amount from your income is the benefit amount you should buy. Generally, this is 80 percent to 100 percent of today's long term care cost.

Inflation Adjustment - Will you still be able to afford care in 10 years?
This is the increase of the benefit amount to cover the effect of inflation. The cost of long term care services increases every year due to inflation. A policy paying $150 per day will cover most of the cost of a nursing facility today. However, this same policy probably will cover only a fraction of the cost in future years unless you buy inflation protection.

There are several optional policy features. The best, and most expensive, is an inflation adjustment that increases the benefit amount by a certain percentage (usually 5 percent) compounded for the life of the policyholder including while you are receiving benefits. In other words, the benefit amount increases 5 percent annually over what the policy would pay the previous year.

Instead of a compounded rate, you can buy a simple rate inflation adjustment, which increases the benefit amount by 5 percent of the original benefit, instead of the previous year's benefit amount. The difference is small in a short period of time, but quite substantial over a long period of time. If you are buying inflation adjustment, get the compound adjustment rider not the simple.

Policies may limit the length of time the inflation adjustment will increase the benefit amount. Some policies limit the increase of the benefit amount to a specific number of years generally about 20 or until the policy doubles, which is about 16 years for a compounded rate of inflation, and 20 years for a simple rate. Some policies will increase the benefit amount until the policyholder reaches a specific age.

Any limit on the benefit amount increase will reduce the cost of the inflation adjustment option. You may want to consider an inflation adjustment restriction, if the option would not leave you without inflation protection. If you are 60 years old and expect to live into your nineties, a policy that stopped increasing the benefit amount after 20 years would leave you with 10 or more years without any inflation adjustment to your benefit amount. Meanwhile, the cost of long term care has continued to increase. It is worth it to pay a little extra to ensure that you are protected. However, if you are 70 and believe you will need long term care by the time you are 80, you could save some money by buying a policy that has a simple rate inflation adjustment for 20 years.

A few policies allow you to purchase additional benefit amounts in future years. However, you will buy these additional amounts at the higher premium based on age. You may want to consider this option if you are under age 50. However, for older ages, this option is substantially more expensive than the automatic annual inflation adjustment option.

Benefit Period - Do I need a lifetime plan?
The benefit period is the length of time the policy will pay for covered services. Policies offer benefit periods ranging from two years to an unlimited benefit period. You should first determine the benefit amount before you consider the benefit period. Many people worry about the potential of a very long stay in a nursing facility. However, there is a very small probability (less than 8 percent) that you will stay more than five years in a nursing facility. The primary consideration is how much you can afford in premiums. The average length of stay in a nursing facility is two-and-a-half years. If all you can afford is two years of coverage, it probably will be adequate. If you can afford a longer benefit period, you should buy it. If you are going to have to miss out on enjoying your retirement to buy lifetime coverage, I wouldn't do it. Now that is just my opinion. On the other hand, I try to find affordable lifetime care for my clients whenever possible. Based on the lastest trends, the lifetime policy will eventually disappear. I would get one while I can.

Elimination Period - If its too long you will be paying for your own care
Elimination period is the number of days that you pay for covered services before the policy pays. We recommend an elimination period between 20 days and 100 days. Policies with longer deductible periods have lower premiums, but you will have to pay for needed services until you meet the deductible. The length of the deductible period you should buy, depends on the assets you have available to pay for services during the deductible period, and how much you can afford in premiums. We have a plan that offers you the low cost of a 90 elimination period but will give you a zero day elimination period or immediate benefits if you use a care coordinator. This can be a tremendous savings.

Who determines if you are entitled to benefits?
Under the best policies, you can qualify for benefits if your doctor orders specific care. Other policies will require that care be "medically necessary for sickness and injury." You already know who will make that determination. If you are in need of nursing-home services, but are not sick or injured, you would not qualify. The insurance company would determine whether you were sick or injured. A third type of rule limiting your right to benefits requires that you be unable to perform a certain number of "activities of daily living," commonly referred to as ADLs. These normally include bathing, dressing, walking, moving from bed to chair, toilet, maintaining continence, and eating.

Some policies evaluate mental functions to determine the qualifications for benefits. Even though insurance regulators require policies to cover Alzheimer's disease, a policyholder who has the disease can be denied benefits if he or she is physically able to perform the activities of daily living specified in the policy, unless there is a mental functioning criteria. If the policy uses only ADL's, an insured with Alzheimer's disease may not qualify even though they are at risk for forgetting to take medications and may forget to come home after they walk to the corner store for a loaf of bread. With a mental functioning standard, a policyholder with the disease is more likely to receive benefits.

Stand-by versus Hand-on Assistance
ADL criteria are not the same from one company to another. Most insurers define what is meant by an inability to perform a particular activity such as failure to feed or bathe oneself. A definition that requires someone to physically assist in performing the activity is more restrictive than one that calls for someone to supervise the activity. It is the difference between being able to climb into a bath by yourself, needing someone to lend a hand or needing someone to actually make the transfer for you. The more specifically a company describes its requirements, the opportunities for disagreements and disputes will be lessened.

What is Care Coordination
When I started in the insurance business my "mentor" told me that you never want to sell a paln with a Care Coordinator. They work for the insurance company and will limit benefits. Today, he works for a leading insurance company that insists that everyone use a Care Coordinator to determine care levels. He now claims that it is a great thing.

Whether or not you are eligible for benefits has nothing to do with a Care Coordinator. However, once you are qualified for home health care, are you prepared to interview care providers, set up schedules, decide when and how often ancillary medical care is provided? Do you think these people magically appear at the door. What about ongoing monitoring of your needs? You can hire a private Care Coordinator to do these things for you. That can get expensive. Many times it is children living in a distant city trying to perform these tasks. Believe me, the services of an experienced Care Coordinator is priceless. Some plans absolutely require that you use one of their approved Care Coordinators. Others don't care (although that is a disappearing trend) and still others offer you enhanced benefits if you use one.

Here is my two cents. I know that a private coordinator is expensive and getting one for free is a great deal. The companies I represent are the best in the business. They are not looking to cheat you out of care to save a few dollars. One of my plans will take a 90 day elimination period and cut it down to zero if you use care coordination. This saves you thousands in premiums and home care expenses.

Can you really eliminate premiums totally?
There are other products that have long term care and home care benefit riders. They are not appropriate for everyone and every situation. There are for example, life insurance and annuities that will convert into very acceptable long term and home health care plans. The advantage is that if you never use the benefits, your heirs get the money you invested plus interest. Some people just hate paying for something they may never use. It is possible to use a combination of traditional ltc/hhc products with one of these alternatives and create a low cost plan for yourself. This is not something that I can even begin to discuss on a web site. I would need to sit down with you and explain it. Most agents do not bother with these type of plans. Either they don't understand them (which is the most common reason), or they won't spend the time when they can make a fast sale with a traditional product. If you have not bought insurance because you think that you will never use it, then these plans are for you.

What is my next step
There are literally armies of long-term care agents in Florida. You will get calls, emails and letters. Some will actually knock on your door without an appointment. Or, they will tell you that they are in the neighborhood and want to stop by (don't let these people into your home). You will be invited to seminars, free lunches, breakfast and maybe even dinner. I don't know about you, but I want a professional long term care specialist, not a caterer. Would you choose a doctor or lawyer because they gave you a free lunch at the local Chinese restaurant? You would be amazed at how many people fall for this.