Illustration: Carey Sookocheff
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Sites to See: Long-Term Care
We've searched the Web for some of the best related sites and interactive tools.
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March-April 2002
National Center for Assisted Living
The National Center for Assisted Living is the assisted living voice of the American Health Care Association, the nation's largest organization representing long-term care providers. Its site touches on all aspects of the insurance-buying process, including choosing a company and selecting a policy. The site shows you how to compare and control costs based on your age when you buy the insurance, and it includes a glossary of terms. It also tells you how to switch policies or, if necessary, complain.
United Seniors Health Council
If you want an in-depth guide to long-term care planning, click here to order Long-Term Care Planning: A Dollar & Sense Guide. Published by the non-profit United Seniors Health Council and updated in 2001, the book discusses long-term care at home, in supportive living situations and in nursing homes. It also offers advice on buying long-term care insurance.
Long Term Care Insurance Knowledge Center
New York State's Office for the Aging has a site that explains the nuts and bolts of long-term care insurance. While some of the information is tailored to residents of New York, the Long Term Care Insurance Knowledge Center includes general information that applies to consumers in any locale. It includes a primer on long-term care insurance basics—and alternatives to buying insurance—as well as a glossary of terms found in policies and an explanation of how to check insurance company ratings.
Long term care insurance
Buyers Advocate Alliance Website
This comprehensive site is maintained by Suzanne K. Cotton, who hopes to help others avoid her husband's plight. He had planned to wait just one more year before buying long-term care insurance. In the interim, he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis; he now needs long-term care and is uninsurable.
The Long Term Care Insurance National Advisory Council is a private, nationwide, public service consortium of independent industry professionals. Ticking through the list on the site's left-hand side turns up lots of interesting information. One article explains financing and demystifies terms such as elimination period and nonforfeiture. Another discusses tax-qualified plans and tells you how to rank insurance carriers. The site gives sample premiums—wide ballpark estimates—and allows you to get an estimate from a Buyer's Advocate. You also can sign up for the LTCi Buyer's Alert e-zine, which offers tips on researching long-term care insurance.
The Consumer Law Page
On this page, California trial lawyer Richard Alexander explains how to avoid fraud when purchasing long-term care insurance. The site goes into great detail about potential loopholes that can leave a policyholder high and dry and lists the do's and dont's of buying a policy.
National Association of Insurance Commissioners
For more information on purchasing a policy, you can order A Shopper's Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a non-profit corporation of state insurance regulators.
Health Insurance Association of America
The Health Insurance Association of America has an online guide, also available in print, that answers basic questions about long-term care insurance. The guide discusses the types of policies available, explains what policies should cover, outlines important features each policy should have, and provides a checklist to help you when buying a policy. It also discusses the tax implications of these policies and outlines consumer protection standards.
AARP Health Care Options
This site will help you to decide whether long-term care insurance is right for you. You also will find information on specific policies underwritten by MetLife.
These links are provided for informational purposes only. AARP does not endorse, and has no control over or responsibility for, the linked sites or the content, advertisements, materials, products, or services available on or throughout these sites.
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