MKA Executive Planners Blog

So often we hear the excuse, "I can't afford to buy life insurance."

The reality is that because life insurance is tied to thoughts of one's own death, there is an automatic mental barrier to its purchase.  This can be offset by focusing on the living benefits of life insurance, which today include accumulation of cash surrender value that grows in many ways: interest credited by the insurer, performance of stock indexes or performance of funds that directly invest in various markets and companies.  These funds can be utilized for emergencies or to provide retirement income.

Why Long-Term Care Coverage is Important: Many people believe that medical insurance policies and Medicare or Medicaid will pay for long-term care expenses.  Medicare does pay limited benefits for rehabilitation and recovery at a skilled nursing facility immediately following a stay at a hospital.  However, it does not pay for the more common situation where health declines slowly over time resulting in the need for assistance with daily living activities, without a preceding stay at a hospital.  Most Medical insurance policies do not pay for custodial long-term care expenses.  Medicaid assistance is not based upon a need for "custodial care" which supports activities of daily living like dressing, bathing, and using the bathroom.  Eligibility for Medicaid assistance is based upon financial criteria.  The basic rule for MassHealth long-term care eligibility is that the applicant, whether single or married, can have only $2,000 in countable assets in their name.  If the applicant is married and the spouse plans to continue in the community, the spouse is allowed to keep a maximum of $109,560 in their name. If an applicant applies to MassHealth with more assets than this, they will be required to spend down those assets to the applicable limit, usually on healthcare costs.