There may come a day when you can no longer take care of yourself and will require long term care.  It’s not something any person really wants to think about because it can be a frightening prospect.  That’s not even taking the costs into consideration because it’s expensive and can eat away at your assets fast.

The current average annual cost of a nursing home stay is over $70,000, the cost for assisted living is about half that,  and like regular healthcare, it’s rising at a faster rate than inflation.  And don’t think that you can just rely on Medicare or Medicaid either because even if your lucky at the most they might cover about 50% of the cost and if you’ve read some of my previous articles then you know by now that those two programs aren’t exactly financially stable.

When planning for your retirement nowadays, you need to consider long term care insurance.  While most people will have health insurance not all of them will purchase long term care insurance.  It’s something you need to think about sooner rather than later because the older you get, the more expensive the premiums will become.

A healthy individual in their 50’s can expect to pay somewhere between $2,000-$3,000 a year in premiums with prices almost doubling every decade after that.  Also keep in mind that costs can vary from state to state since insurance isn’t regulated at the federal level.

Even though the insurance isn’t exactly cheap, it’s a lot less than if you had to pay for long term care out of your own pocket. Also with the huge influx of baby boomers about to hit retirement age, who knows what that will due to the future cost of long term care.

With the holiday travel season upon us once again, it’s that time of year to decide whether or not you want to purchase travel insurance for the trips that you’re planning.

What is it?

It is insurance that protects you from financial losses incurred while traveling either domestically or internationally.

What does it cover?

It can protect you from a wide variety of possible risks.  Most companies will offer coverage for the following.

• Cancellation or delay
• Lost, delayed or theft of luggage
• Personal liability
• Personal injury
• Medical expenses
• Legal expenses

Is it worth it?

If your just going for a short stay with family, probably not.However if your planning an expensive trip like an exotic vacation or honeymoon, it may well be worth the cost.  I’d say it’s definitely worth looking into if you are plan on traveling internationally, especially for coverage of medical expenses, as your regular health plan may not cover you overseas.

It’s also important to note that you don’t have to purchase coverage for everything.  You may just want to protect for certain cases like luggage for instance, which is something I’d always recommend getting unless all you have is carryon.

While most travel agents will discuss the available insurance options with you, if you’re planning your own trip this can be a little more difficult.  In that case I would suggest calling either your auto or home insurance provider to see if they have a travel insurance package. 

The rest of the nation is anxiously watching Massachusetts as it attempts to institute a universal healthcare system in the state.  State law now requires that all residents must be enrolled into a healthcare plan by December 31 or face penalties.  For the first year the penalty for residents will be loss of their personal exemption on state tax returns, which is about $219.  Next year the penalty is expected to rise to as high as $1,000.

As expected, there have been growing pains in this bold plan.  A state program was instituted to help subsidize insurance for low income individuals and families.  While participation was better than expected, it’s already straining the budget of the program and it’s estimated that as many as two thirds of the previously uninsured are still without health insurance coverage.

With an estimated 60 million Americans in our country currently without health care, this is an important test to see if such a system might work nationwide.  The U.S. is the only wealthy industrialized nation in the world without universal healthcare.  Despite what we may believe, we do not have the best healthcare system in the world.

Although we have some of the best trained medical professionals and best hospitals found anywhere in the world, we compare poorly to countries with universal health care systems.  Life expectancy and infant mortality rates ranks well behind the other industrialized nations.

The problem with healthcare in this country has always been cost.  The U.S. spends more money per capita on healthcare than any country in the world.  Some experts estimate that on average Americans spend about 40% more on healthcare than countries with universal healthcare systems.  It’s also estimated that the government accounts for over 45% of total healthcare spending in the country.

The facts speak for themselves.  I think it’s time for our government leaders to consider to following the example of the rest of the civilized world and make affordable healthcare a right of our citizens.