Nursing Home Insurance - Health Care

Anybody look into nursing home or long term healthcare insurance?  Basically protecting your nest egg if you go into a nursing home?  Any thoughts or tips on what to think about?  Avoid? 
 

I had really bad experiences with long term care with my parents.

The sales pitch is really good (this stuff isn't expensive, and it protects your family if you ever need long term care), but it is actually very rare that the companies pay out anything.

There are usually a list of 6 different things that qualify, and the patient has to have at least 2 of the conditions.  In my Dad's case, 1 of them was an ability to feed yourself, and another was an ability to bath themselves. 
 

I learned that "feed yourself" actually meant lift the spoon to your mouth. My Dad had dementia. He couldn't make a sandwich, or prepare anything to eat, or make any decision about what to eat, but he could lift the spoon, so he didn't qualify.

There is also a time delay. Usually 90 days.    The vetting process means the patient has to be unable to care for themselves for a full 90 days before they can qualify.  The truth is that most people who are that incapacitated don't live more than 90 days.

If you spent 10 years in a facility fully incapable of taking care of yourself, it would pay off. But most people never qualify to receive benefits at all.

Better off protecting your assets via a trust, so there is nothing to deplete. 

In reply to mtn :

The idea is that it's insurance to cover nursing home care (in general) or home care costs.  

The example is mom and dad save 40 years and put away a $500,000 nest egg.  Dad has a stroke and needs care whether at home or a facility and in 2/3 years he dies but burned up $150,000-$225,000 of the nest egg and now mom has half the nest egg to live on.  The full $500,000 egg is what you're protecting.  

Now if you did well with $5,000,000 in that nest egg you don't care as a $225,000 hit isn't going to bankrupt you.  

It can be a good thing, but the long term care insurance market is something of a mine field.  Proceed carefully, and get expert advice before signing up for anything. 

My parents had it, and it worked out well for both of them.  It can make the difference of being able to afford to live in a decent facility