Long-Term Care Riders

Transcription

1 Life Insurance with Long-Term Care Riders MK3375(0509) TC46288(0509) Experience Life

2 Life Insurance can be your Bridge to a More Secure Financial Future Life insurance is a powerful tool that can be used to meet many financial needs. Most importantly, life insurance provides an income tax-free benefit t0 help protect your family at your death. The income tax-free proceeds provided by life insurance are paid directly to your beneficiary, free from the costs, delays and publicity of probate. Additionally, permanent life insurance has the potential to build cash value on a tax-deferred basis. Because the cash value belongs to you, you are allowed to access it during your lifetime for unexpected cash needs, to take advantage of opportunities or to supplement your retirement income. Life insurance can also help should you or your spouse need some form of long-term care during your lifetime.

3 6 out of 10 people will need long-term care sometime during their lifetime. 1 A Different Approach to Meeting your Long-Term Care Needs Life insurance also provides riders that can help protect against the potentially devastating cost of long-term care. These riders allow access to your policy s death benefit to help you pay the costs of your care. If you never incur any long-term care expenses, or if you use only a portion of your long-term care benefit, the remaining death benefit will pass income tax-free to your beneficiary. Whatever the condition that causes the need for long-term care, it can be a severe drain on both family caregivers and family finances. These riders will help pay for a wide range of long-term care services, allowing you to protect your retirement savings as well as other family assets. 1 Long-Term Care: An Impending Crisis for Elderly, 2008.

4 The average cost of nursing home care in America is $70,000 a year a cost that is expected to double in the next ten years. 2 Long-Term Care Services Long-term care services are those your medical insurance normally would not cover. They include therapy, rehabilitation, maintenance, or personal care services you might receive in a setting other than a hospital. These are services usually provided by nurses, therapists, home health aides, or other skilled and unskilled caregivers, rather than doctors or surgeons. Long-term care is generally provided in your home, in a community facility such as an adult day care center, or in a nursing home or assisted living facility not in a hospital or clinic. 2 Medical News Today, 2006.

5 Home Care Benefits Your long-term care rider reimburses eligible expenses for both skilled and personal care at home. 3 Skilled care, such as physical or speech therapy is generally provided by a nurse or a therapist. Personal care is help with ordinary daily activities like eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing and continence. Your home care benefits may include homemaker services, home health aid services, or assistance with daily activities. Another special home care benefit provided by your long-tem care riders is an independent caregiver benefit. This allows you and your family to choose someone you know and trust (and who is licensed) to provide the care you need. Facility-Based Care Benefits Long-term care riders will reimburse eligible expenses for your stay in a licensed nursing facility or assisted living facility. 3 Community-Based Care Benefits Many communities have adult day care centers that are licensed or certified by the state to provide health services, social services, or other types of support services to adults who are impaired. A long-term care rider will reimburse you for the care you receive at an adult day care center. 3 3 Receipt of long-term care benefits will reduce the policy s cash value and death benefit.

6 Long-Term Care Riders With your policy, there are two different LTC riders offered: Accelerated Care Rider (ACR) The first, Accelerated Care Rider (ACR), allows you to accelerate 100% of your death benefit for reimbursement of qualified long-term care expenses that you incur while in an assisted living facility, a nursing home, home health care or an adult day care. Benefits paid out under the ACR riders reduce the face amount, accumulated value and the cash surrender value. You can elect to receive a maximum 1% of the death benefit each month for 100 months or until the amount paid out equals the death benefit. Or, You can elect to receive a maximum of 2% of the death benefit each month for 50 months or until the amount paid out equals the death benefit. Chronic Care Protection Rider (CCP) The second rider, Chronic Care Protection Rider (CCP), allows you to extend your benefits once the ACR benefits are exhausted. You may elect to extend your benefit period for an additional 50 months or lifetime. The benefit amount received under the riders is the reimbursement for any qualified long-term care services, minus any reimbursement received from Medicare and other government programs, excluding Medicaid. Together, these riders can provide lifetime benefits to meet your long-term care needs. Rider Benefit Availability Eligibility begins when you are certified as being chronically ill or having severe cognitive impairment. Severe cognitive impairment is defined as having your mental capacity deteriorated to the point that you need substantial supervision to protect yourself from threats to your health and safety. Alzheimer s disease and other forms of irreversible dementia fall into this category. There is a 60-day elimination period. Chronic illness is defined as being unable to perform two out of six Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) without the help from another person for at least 90 days. The six ADLs are defined as eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, dressing and continence.

7 Waiting Period There is a 60-day waiting period until your benefits begin. You will be responsible for the cost of services that you receive during those 60 days. The 60 days counted for the waiting period don t have to be consecutive, but they must fall within 180 consecutive days. The days that are counted for the waiting period don t all have to have been for the same type of care. You can count on any combination of home care, community-based care, or a stay in a facility toward the 60-day total. If you start receiving benefits, and then stop using them for more than 180 days, you will have to satisfy a new waiting period in order to begin receiving benefits again. Other Valuable Features Inflation Protection With the cost of long-term care services rising every year, it is good to know that inflation protection is available. If this option is purchased, benefits are increased automatically by 5% a year, and the increase is compounded, which means the dollar amount of the increase will go up each year. Premium Waiver If you were to become eligible to receive long-term care benefits, the waiver of premium feature eliminates the need for you to pay premiums for this rider, as well as the life insurance premium, during the time that you are receiving benefits. Premiums that you pay for the long-term care riders can be added to your other medical expenses as deductions from your income. Long-term care benefits you receive will not be counted as income. We know that a decision to buy a life insurance policy with long-term care riders is a significant decision, so be sure to discuss any questions or concerns you have with your financial professional. Consider the advantage of life insurance with long-term care protection.

8 The Accelerated Care Rider (ACR) and Chronic Care Protection (CCP) Rider are available on various Whole Life, Universal Life and Indexed Universal Life policies underwritten by National Life Insurance Company. These riders, however, may not be available on all products offered by National Life and some riders may not be available in all states. Accelerated Care Rider (Advanced Benefits Rider in Kansas and Oregon), form series 9249(0201)/9249ID(0201), is optional and available at additional cost. Use of the Accelerated Care Rider reduces the face amount, the accumulated value and the cash surrender value of your life insurance policy. Benefit payments will be used to pay off any outstanding policy loans first, reducing the amount of money you would normally collect as a benefit. The Accelerated Care Rider is not available in Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Washington and Wisconsin. Chronic Care Protection Rider (Comprehensive Long-Term Care Rider in California), form series 9250/9251/9250ID(0201)/9251ID(0201) The Chronic Care Protection Rider (CCP) may only be issued and remain in force on a policy that also has the Accelerated Care Rider attached to it. The Chronic Care Protection Rider extends benefits beyond the period when full benefits under the Accelerated Care Rider have been paid. Benefits are payable only if, and while, the insured remains Chronically Ill. The CCP Rider is not available in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. The above insurance riders have exclusions, limitations, reductions of benefits, and/or terms under which the rider may be continued in force or discontinued. For costs and complete details of the coverage, call or write to your agent or to the company. National Life Insurance Company Home Office: One National Life Drive, Montpelier, Vermont (888) National Life Group is a trade name of National Life Insurance Company and its affiliates. 30 %