Long-term care planner
Project what care could cost when you might need it, and how much a daily benefit and benefit period would cover.
Independent agency
Long-term care means help with everyday tasks like bathing, dressing and eating, at home, in assisted living or in a nursing home, often for months or years. Medicare and Medicare Supplement plans generally do not pay for that kind of ongoing custodial care. Viola Lucero holds the CLTC (Certified in Long-Term Care) designation, and this is her specialty.
Life, long-term care, annuity and supplemental products are subject to underwriting and carrier approval. Guarantees are based on the claims-paying ability of the issuing company. Nothing on this site is tax, legal or investment advice.
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A long-term care policy pays a daily or monthly benefit when you need help with activities of daily living or have a cognitive impairment such as dementia. Benefits are usually limited by a time period, such as three or four years, or a pool of money. Most policies offer inflation protection so the benefit can keep pace with rising care costs, and a waiting period, often 30 to 180 days, before benefits begin.
There are two broad approaches. Traditional long-term care insurance is stand-alone coverage you can tailor: monthly benefit, benefit period, inflation protection and waiting period, with premiums paid over time. Hybrid policies link life insurance or an annuity with long-term care benefits: if you need care, the policy pays for it; if you never do, your heirs receive a death benefit. Hybrids answer the common worry about paying for something you might never use, but they are less flexible and often funded with larger premiums over a short period.
Timing is the part people underestimate. Premiums are lower when you are younger, and coverage requires health underwriting, so a diagnosis can make you ineligible. That is why Viola encourages people in their 40s and 50s to at least have the conversation, while it is still your choice. In Arizona, the Medicaid route to long-term care is ALTCS, the Arizona Long Term Care System, which has strict income and asset limits; insurance is how most families plan so they are not depending on qualifying for it.
Her planning starts with your life, not a policy. Would you want care at home? Is there a spouse or adult child who would step in, and what would that cost them? What savings would you be willing to spend? From there she designs coverage that fills the gap you actually have, compares traditional and hybrid designs side by side, and explains how benefits are triggered so there are no surprises at claim time.
She stays involved after the policy is issued. She reviews it with you over the years, and when the time comes to use it, she helps your family understand the claim process. Coverage is subject to underwriting and carrier approval.
You are roughly 45 to 70, in reasonably good health, and you want to protect your savings and spare your family from becoming full-time caregivers if you ever need long-term help.
Generally not. Medicare covers limited skilled nursing or home health care after a qualifying hospital stay, for a short time. It does not cover ongoing custodial care, help with bathing, dressing and daily living, which is most long-term care. That gap is what long-term care insurance is for.
Free calculators for this coverage. Results are estimates, not quotes.
Project what care could cost when you might need it, and how much a daily benefit and benefit period would cover.
Compare the monthly income you will need in retirement with what Social Security, pensions and other income will pay.
Find your full retirement age and see your monthly benefit at every age from 62 to 70.
Long-term care is help with everyday living, and Medicare does not pay for it. Here is what long-term care insurance covers, how a policy is built, and how it fits with ALTCS and the Arizona Partnership program.
Traditional long-term care insurance is pure protection. Hybrid policies combine life insurance or an annuity with long-term care benefits, so the money is used one way or another. Here is how to compare them.
Medicare will cover it. My family will take care of me. I am too young to think about it. Here are the most common long-term care myths, and what the facts from Medicare.gov, LongTermCare.gov and AHCCCS say.
Generally not. Medicare covers limited skilled nursing or home health care after a qualifying hospital stay, for a short time. It does not cover ongoing custodial care, help with bathing, dressing and daily living, which is most long-term care. That gap is what long-term care insurance is for.
Many people look at it in their 40s and 50s, while premiums are lower and health is more likely to qualify. Coverage requires underwriting, so waiting until a diagnosis can mean you are no longer eligible.
ALTCS, the Arizona Long Term Care System, is the AHCCCS program that pays for long-term care for Arizonans who meet medical need and strict income and asset limits. Long-term care insurance is how many families plan so they keep choices and protect savings.
A life insurance policy or annuity with long-term care benefits built in. If you need care, it pays for care; if you never do, your heirs receive a death benefit. Hybrids are less flexible than traditional policies and are often funded with larger premiums over a few years.
Certified in Long-Term Care. It is a professional designation for advisors trained in long-term care planning, and Viola Lucero holds it.
It depends on your age and health when you apply, the daily or monthly benefit you choose, how long benefits last, the waiting period and whether you add inflation protection. Couples can often save by buying together.
Because those choices move the price so much, Viola designs a plan around what you want to protect and shows you a few versions side by side. Coverage is subject to underwriting.
Usually when a licensed health care practitioner certifies that you need help with at least two of six activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing or eating, or that you have a severe cognitive impairment like Alzheimer's disease.
Then a waiting period, called the elimination period, applies. It works like a deductible measured in days, and benefits begin once it is met.
On traditional policies, yes. The insurance company cannot raise your premium because of your own health, but it can raise rates for a whole group of policyholders, and those increases go through state insurance regulators.
Hybrid life and long-term care policies often have premiums that are fixed once paid. Viola explains how each design handles future rates before you choose.
Most policies do. Many people want to stay home as long as they can, and long-term care policies commonly cover home care, adult day care, assisted living and nursing home care.
What is covered, and how much, depends on the policy. Viola reads the home care benefit with you, since that is often the care families use first.
Long-Term Care Insurance in Chandler and across Arizona: no pressure, plain answers, and a review every year.
2160 North Alma School Road, Suite 102, Chandler, AZ 85224 (480) 300-5776
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