Howard Gleckman is an elder care advocate.  Many people look to him for guidance on how to prepare for long-term care.  Unfortunately, for the second time in 30 days, Howard Gleckman has provided false information about the cost of long-term care insurance.  What’s even worse is that he has ignored the government-approved solution for the middle-class to protect their life’s savings from long-term care expenses.  

In his article in Forbes on November 17th, 2015, Mr. Gleckman over-stated the cost of long-term care insurance by 115%!  In his recent interview with the New York Times he overstated it again by 95%.  The middle-class has the most to gain from owning long-term care insurance.  The middle-class is hurt the most when consumer advcoates who should know better, like Mr. Gleckman, give false information and bad advice about long-term care insurance.    

In his recent interview with the New York Times, Mr. Gleckman was quoted as saying:  “It’s really hard to see how this will be a viable product for the middle (class),” Mr. Gleckman said. “It’s too complicated and too expensive.”

Fortunately, the federal government along with 43 state governments disagree with Mr. Gleckman.  To help the middle-class protect their life’s savings 43 states, in cooperation with the federal government, have created a special program called the “Long-Term Care Partnership Program”.  

This is a partnership between the states, the federal government, insurance companies, and consumers who want to protect their life’s savings from long-term care expenses.  The “Long-Term Care Partnership Programs” encourage the middle-class to own an amount of long-term care insurance that is equal to their net worth.  

If your government-approved long-term care partnership policy runs out of benefits you can apply for Medicaid to pay for your care and all of your assets can be protected from Medicaid.  

Not only are your assets protected while you are alive, but your assets are also be protected for your heirs after you pass away. 

The Long-Term Care Partnership Program is the most equitable solution to the long-term care financing crisis facing our country because:

• The wealthy pay more in order to protect more assets.
• The “not-so-wealthy” pay less and can still protect all of their assets.

For example, a 61-year old couple with average health could protect:

• $250,000 of assets for about $90 per month per person, or
• $300,000 of assets for about $100 per month per person, or
• $400,000 of assets for about $125 per month per person, or
• $500,000 of assets for about $150 per month per person, or
• $750,000 of assets for about $200 per month per person, or
• $1,000,000 of assets for about $250 per month per person.

Each person can target how much coverage they need based upon how much of their assets they want to protect from Medicaid.  (Get 3 instant quotes based upon your age and health–no email required.)

It is true that most of the older long-term care insurance policies have had large premium increases. To protect consumers purchasing policies today, 41 states have passed strict pricing regulations. Consumers purchasing policies today are protected from the pricing mistakes of older policies.