Your home: You love it, but sometimes you have to leave it.
Whether it's the eight hours a day or eight days on a dreamy beach, allowing your biggest investment to fend for itself can be stressful. And it's a legit concern; when your home looks empty, break-ins happen. A lot. Ugh.
You could deter burglars by never leaving your house again. Or you could do the next best (OK, way better) thing, and just make it look like someone is there all the time. Here's how.
#1 Light Up a Room (From the Road)
Your parents may still rely on their lighting timer — on at 8 p.m., off at 7 a.m. That old-fashioned option still works, but apps are more fun. They not only turn your lights on and off, but can do so randomly for a more realistic effect. And you can decide to flip on your porch light while sipping a mojito in Fiji.
#2 Fake a Netflix Binge
Nothing says "we are definitely home" like the colorful glare of a television dancing in the window.
Put the little FakeTV gizmo where it can project light onto a curtain, and that's exactly what your home will say to passersby.
The device (which runs between about $20 and $40 depending on size) plugs into an adapter and can either work on a timer or with a light sensor, so it can switch on when it gets dark.
#3 Change Up Your Shades Remotely
Leave your window shades down while you're gone and you might as well put out a "Gone Fishin'" sign.
Check out wireless options to throw some shade on the go. Several companies have systems — including Hunter Douglas PowerView, Pella Insynctive, and Lutron Serena — that allow shades to go up and down at your command for about $300 to $500 a window.
#4 Make Some Noise
Burglars can change plans in a hurry at the first sound of life inside a home — they're a bit tetchy that way. So one option when you're just gone for the day is a noise app, like Sleep And Noise Sounds that can play on a homebound phone, tablet, or computer. With noises like vacuuming and a boiling kettle, it can deter a thief who cracks open a window.
#5 Make Them Ring And Run
"Burglars will often ring your doorbell, and if no one answers, they'll go around back and kick in the door," says Deputy Michael Favata with the Monroe County Sheriff's office in New York. Now you can answer the door with the Ring Video Doorbell ($180 for the basic model).
If someone pushes the doorbell, you can talk to them through an app on your phone. Whether it's your nosey neighbor or a sketchy stranger, you can say, "I'm in the basement" while you're really on the slopes. They'll never know. And even if they don't believe you, they know they're being watched (insert devilish laugh here).
#6 Try a No-Tech Technique
Not everything requires a gadget. Here are ways to up your home security without downloading a single app:
Hire a house sitter. Then someone will be home.
If there's snow, have a neighbor walk up and down the path to your door, shovel a passage up to the garage door and drive in and out of the driveway. If it's hot out, ask them to keep your plants looking fresh with regular waterings. And don't forget to bring them a nice gift from your getaway.
Ask friends, family, or neighbors to just be present on your property — use your patio, play in your yard, or bring in the mail.
Invite a neighbor to keep a car parked in your driveway. During the holidays, they may be happy if they need overflow for visitors.
Install a fake security camera for as low as $8. Burglars may not notice these fakes don't have all the wiring necessary to be real. And their blinking red lights offer reasonable doubt.
Get a dog. A real dog. While you're at work or running errands, nothing deters bad guys and gals like a barking security guard. And when you go away, having a pet sitter stay can be as economical as some boarding facilities (especially if you have multiple dogs), and you'll get the benefit of a human and canine sentinel.
Although the financial burden associated with medical expenses can be alleviated through the utilization of Medicare and Medigap programs, they do not offer coverage for long-term ‘custodial care.’ Costs related to this type of service are usually very expensive and often result in a considerable depletion of an individual’s retirement funds.
Evaluations to Make Before Purchasing
LTC insurance provides important financial protection against the cost of long-term care for individuals who stand the chance of losing accumulated income or wealth in paying for such care. However, not all individuals need to purchase LTC coverage, especially those individuals who are eligible for financial assistance through Medicaid.
Determining whether not an LTC policy should be purchased, individuals should take the following into consideration:
- Health history
- Family assistance
- Cost of required care
- Savings and Assets that may be lost
Long-Term Care (LTC) Insurance provides coverage for expenses associated with custodial care and assisted living for individuals who have lost the ability to remain completely independent. LTC coverage provides care, usually for a period 90 days or more, and can be provided by an adult care center, nursing home or at an individual’s home. While some LTC policies offer unlimited lifetime coverage, most plans limit coverage periods from 3 to 5 years, often with limited benefit amounts.
Upon deciding to purchase LTC coverage, determining the conditions, benefits and cost of the policy are also important to evaluate, as well as any elimination periods, policy limitations, policy rate increases and the overall financial health of the LTC insurer.
Ways to Issue Contracts
Individual
LTC insurance can be purchased on an individual basis where the policy is paid for by the individual and provides coverage directly to the individual for whom the policy is written, or can be written as an endorsement (rider) to a life insurance policy. LTC premiums are determined by the age and medical history of the applicant. Generally speaking, the younger the individual, the lower the LTC premium required.
Group
LTC insurance can also be provided to members of a group. As with life and health insurance, a group LTC policy is issued to by the insurer to the sponsor of the group who serves as the master policyholder and issues certificates of LTC coverage for participating members of the group. Upon termination from the group, an individual must have the right to continue or convert to an individual LTC policy without requiring evidence of insurability.
LTC Benefit Payments
Long-term care insurance policies provide benefits through either fixed dollar amounts or expense-incurred amounts. LTC benefit payments are based on a per-day basis to cover the daily LTC expenses incurred by the insured individual.
Fixed Payments
As an example, if an insured’s fixed LTC indemnity payment is $150 per day, but the insured’s LTC costs are only $120 per day, the insurer still pays the insured the entire $150 daily benefit amount as long as LTC coverage is needed.
Expense-Incurred Payments
Some insurers now follow an expense-incurred basis that covers the actual charges that were incurred in comparison to a fixed dollar amount.
Long-term care provides coverage when physical or mental conditions, whether acute (such as pneumonia) or chronic (such as heart disease), impairs an individual’s ability to perform the basic activities of everyday life such as feeding, toileting, bathing, dressing and walking.
Types of Long-Term Care
Dependent on the severity of an individual’s medical needs, LTC coverage provides for various types of care, from around-the-clock physician’s care in a nursing home to basic living services performed by medically trained individuals in the patient’s home.
Skilled Nursing Care
Usually administered at nursing homes, this type of long-term care involves around-the-clock care by a licensed medical professional under the supervision of a certified physician.
Intermediate Nursing Care
Similar to skilled nursing care, ‘intermediate’ long-term care is also offered at nursing homes by registered nurses under the supervision of a physician, but without around-the-clock care.
Custodial Care
Although it must be given under a doctor’s order, this category does not require services to be performed by a medically trained individual. These services include bathing, dressing, getting out of bed and toileting, to name a few services. Long-term care assistance can be administered within a nursing home or adult day-care center; however, most long-term care is administered at the home of the patient, also known as ‘custodial,’ or residential care.
Qualified vs. Non-Qualified LTC Plans
Qualified LTC plans are federally qualified for tax benefits when such plans stipulate that covered individuals must be diagnosed as chronically ill, whether such illness is physical or cognitive, unless prior hospitalization occurred and the individual is considered acutely ill.
Chronic physical illness includes the inability of two or more of an individual’s daily activities for a period of at least 90 days, such as feeding, toileting, bathing dressing and mobility. In order to qualify as cognitively impaired (a deficiency in the ability to think or reason), an impairment diagnosis must be certified by a physician within the previous 12 months.
Non-qualified LTC plans do not require such diagnosis, nor any other specific requirement since it is not mandated under the federal tax code, unlike a qualified LTC plan. While such plans do not receive favorable tax treatment, individuals who do not qualify for a qualified LTC plan, based on the individual’s medical diagnosis, often do qualify for a non-qualified LTC plan.
Types of Contract Limits
Although there are numerous LTC plans available for those in need, similarities can be found throughout which enable us to discuss basic provisions and limitations found in many of these plans. As an outcome of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, all long-term care plans must contain provisions that enable their benefits to qualify for tax-exempt treatment as well as adopting specific provisions of the NAIC’s long-term care insurance model regulation.
Elimination Periods
The elimination period in an LTC policy is often referred to as a ‘time deductible,’ and can range from zero to 365 days. Generally speaking, the longer the LTC’s elimination period, the lower the LTC’s premium, as well as, the longer the LTC’s benefit period, the higher the LTC’s premium.
Daily Benefit Limits
Whether fixed or expense-incurred, payments provided by an LTC policy are limited to a daily maximum. Expenses that exceed policy maximums are the responsibility of the insured. Determining the correct daily maximum benefit level is commonly based on the average LTC costs within the geographic area of the insured.
While most states mandate a minimum daily benefit amount, daily maximum levels coincide with the amount of premium paid by the policyholder.
Lifetime Maximum Limits
Also directly correlated with premium is the amount of time in which benefits are payable by the insurer. It is important to choose a policy that is both affordable and provides enough LTC coverage for what an individual might expect in the future. An insurance agent’s job is to help determine the correct amount of coverage based on his or her evaluation of the applicant.
Guaranteed Renewable and Non-Cancellable
As a requirement of HIPAA, as long as premiums are paid, all LTC plans must be guaranteed renewable and non-cancellable. An insurer cannot make any other changes to a LTC policy once it becomes effective.
The insurer has the right to increase premium rates on an LTC policy over time only if it increases the overall premium of a large group, or ‘class’ of individuals, but not on an individual basis.
Waiver of Premium
Most LTC policies include a waiver of premium provision that waives an individual’s need to pay premium while receiving LTC benefits. This option is usually effective once a patient has been under the care of a licensed physician for a period of at least 90 days of confinement.
Specified Exclusions
The following are almost always excluded from LTC policies: acts of war, self-inflicted injuries, and drug and alcohol dependency.
Skilled vs Non-Skilled Nursing Care
Skilled nursing care requires the care of a licensed nurse under the orders of a physician; whereas, non-skilled nursing care pertains more to the personal daily living assistance, known as the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) of a patient including bathing, feeding, administering medicine and general maintenance of the patient.
Long-Term Care Facilities
Home Health Care
Medically-necessary care conducted by a registered nurse is often performed within the home of the patient, in comparison to care within a hospital. This type of rehabilitative service is designed to help patients readjust to everyday living, commonly provided after a stay in the hospital. This type of in-home skilled nursing care provides both rehabilitation, as well as daily living assistance, if necessary.
Nursing Facilities – Adult Day Care and Assisted Living
Assisted living centers, also known as ‘nursing homes,’ are available for individuals who require substantial assistance in daily living activities and provide a variety of healthcare services, as well as a group living environment, versus seclusion for individuals who are ‘homebound,’ or have lost the ability to live alone. The difference between nursing facility care and skilled nursing care is dependent on the type and extent of care required by a patient.
Hospice Care and Respite Care
Considered an optional benefit of LTC, it provides for the control of pain and provides a comfort of living for terminally ill patients. Respite care allows for the temporary medical care of a dependent that allows for the primary caregiver, usually family member, to receive a short period of time ‘off’ from providing care, whether for a few hours per day or for a period of a few weeks. The dependent is either cared for within their residence or at a medical institution.
LTC Partnerships
Traditional LTC vs. Partnership Policy
Both traditional policies and Partnership policies provide long-term care coverage; however, in comparison to a traditional LTC policy, a Partnership policy is more highly regulated by the state, it provides a tax deduction to consumers and it includes an additional benefit known as ‘Medicaid Asset Protection.’
Medicaid Asset Protection
To qualify for Medicaid, an individual’s income and personal assets determine his or her eligibility. Low or no income individuals who cannot afford to cover long-term care costs after LTC coverage has been exhausted typically qualify for Medicaid; however, since eligibility is also based on an individual’s personal assets, in cases where an individual’s assets exceed state Medicaid eligibility levels, such assets prohibit the individual from Medicaid eligibility. As a result, in order to qualify for coverage, an individual would need to sell off his or her assets in an attempt to ‘spend down’ to a level low enough to qualify for Medicaid.
However, through Medicaid Asset Protection in a Partnership policy, an individual can disregard, or will not have to ‘spend down,’ his or her personal assets. As an added benefit of a Partnership policy, and at no additional cost, Medicaid Asset Protection provides financial protection against personal asset loss in the event that an individual, based on insufficient income, needs to apply to Medicaid for long-term care coverage after he or she has exhausted private coverage. Referred to as Asset Disregard, Medicaid eligibility is adjusted for enrollees in a Partnership policy, disregarding personal assets in determining Medicaid eligibility. Medicaid Asset Protection is a benefit of a Partnership policy, but is not included in a traditional long-term care policy.
It is important to note that although the personal assets of a Medicaid applicant are disregarded, income from social security, interest income and income from a pension are not protected from Medicaid eligibility rules and can determine Medicaid eligibility. Assets that are disregarded under a Partnership policy include items such as cash, savings and checking accounts, stocks and bonds, certificates of deposit, money market certificates, IRAs and real property. Under Medicaid Asset Protection, these same personal assets are protected from Medicaid ‘estate recovery.’
Both the federal and state governments mandate Medicaid Estate Recovery in which the state reimburses itself for the costs it incurs by a Medicaid recipient through the recovery of the recipient’s personal assets and savings. States mandate such recovery of costs for all individuals age 55 and older who receive Medicaid benefits such as nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services.
Estate recovery includes the state’s taking possession of a Medicaid recipient’s personal assets, excluding the proceeds of a life insurance policy or annuity contract, or the recipient’s personal effects and family keepsakes. Recovery of an individual’s estate after his or her death is also common unless such recovery creates an undue hardship for the recipient’s surviving spouse, dependent children under the age of 21, or disabled or blind dependent children of any age.
Again, in addition to ‘asset disregard’ in determining Medicaid eligibility, Medicaid Asset Protection also prohibits the recovery of a Medicaid recipient’s estate up to an amount at least equal to the amount of benefits used through the Partnership policy. It is important to note again that an individual’s income from social security, interest income and income from a pension are not covered by Medicaid Asset Protection and, if eligible for Medicaid, this income would ultimately be used to reimburse the state for the cost of the Medicaid recipient long-term healthcare.
Types of Asset Protection
The amount of Medicaid Asset Protection provided to an enrollee is based on the type of protection he or she qualifies for upon initially purchasing a Partnership policy. Two types of asset protection are available: ‘dollar-for-dollar’ and ‘total asset’ protection. The type of asset protection depends on the amount of coverage initially purchased compared to the State-Set Dollar Amount, which is the minimum initial amount of coverage an applicant must purchase in a Partnership policy in order to earn ‘total’ asset protection.
An applicant who initially purchases a Partnership policy with less than the state-set dollar amount in benefits is provided with an equal amount of asset protection for each dollar of Partnership policy benefits paid out, but does not receive total asset protection. In comparison, an applicant who initially purchases a Partnership policy with at least the state-set dollar amount and whose policy includes at least a 5% ‘compound inflation factor,’ is provided with total asset protection once the Partnership policy has been exhausted. The compound inflation factor requires benefits that are mandated by the state to increase annually by 5% or at the inflation rate associated with the consumer price index to keep up with the rising cost of healthcare
A Total Asset policy protects all assets if an individual needs to apply for Medicaid after exhausting all Partnership LTC coverage. Under total asset protection, all assets (not income), are protected from Medicaid spend down and estate recovery. In comparison, a Dollar-for-Dollar policy provides asset protection equal to the amount paid out in benefits from the Partnership policy, up to the policy’s benefit limit.
National Reciprocity Compact
The National Reciprocity Compact allows participating states to opt in and out of their reciprocity agreement at any time within 60 days’ notice. If a state opts out of reciprocity, individuals who have already accessed Medicaid continue to qualify for coverage. If a state’s Partnership program ceases to exist in the future, a resident who purchased a Partnership policy prior to such date would still be eligible to receive earned asset protection under the state’s Medicaid program.
Asset protection under a reciprocity agreement with another state is on a dollar for dollar basis. In order to receive total asset protection, an individual would need to move back to the state in which he or she purchased a Partnership policy.
