Protecting Your Staff in their Retirement Years

Protecting Your Staff in their Retirement Years

By Bob Fish, Special Project Coordinator, Voluntary Benefits at Work

Who is going to take care of you when you can’t take care of yourself someday? Will you have the money to afford the care you deserve? These are great questions and unfortunately, most people don’t have good answers. In other words, they haven’t planned for their own future care.

Generally, people start thinking about these important decisions somewhere in their 40s or 50s or when they have witnessed a family member or friend go through end of life care. That’s the stage in life where we need help doing some or all of our activities of daily living. It almost always involves someone helping us, such as a caregiver, a family member, a nurse, or some type of long-term care facility.

Most people kick the can down the road and put off planning for this stage of life until it’s too late or too expensive. It doesn’t have to be that way though. Many times, people convince themselves that their kids will take care of them or that they have good genes and will live long, healthy lives like their parents did. Maybe the saddest misconception is believing that Medicare will pay for their care. The reality is, your kids may or may not be there when you need care and good genes are a blessing for sure but no guarantee of a long healthy life. And finally, Medicare does not pay for nursing homes or assisted living care, Medicaid does.

There is no substitute for good financial planning which certainly should include provision for your own long-term care. The bottom line is that when the time comes “money matters.” If you haven’t planned for your own elder care, then you probably won’t be happy with the care you end up with. We suggest getting LTC insurance that pays you cash, not the nursing home or long-term facility when you need care. Whatever happens, having cash in hand gives you options and that’s a game-changer.

It’s been heartbreaking to watch people suffer in nursing homes and other LTC facilities during the pandemic. It has shaken up the industry, to say the least, and many new innovative ideas and changes are taking place, as a result, to help prevent this suffering from happening again. Recent online coverage from McKnight’s Senior Living talks about 'home-sharing may be gaining steam as an affordable alternative to formal seniors housing.”

It would be ideal if everyone purchased a long-term care insurance policy on themselves when they were young and healthy so it would be less expensive, and health would not be an issue but that’s not reality. The best way to get coverage is through your school when it’s offered so that you don’t have to answer health questions and it’s less expensive and fully portable.

Whatever you do, don’t keep kicking the can down the road. Get the right coverage from an A+ rated carrier that pays you cash directly if you ever need care and then most importantly keep it because someday it will allow you to have the care you deserve.

Bob Fish, Special Projects Director for MISBO

Bob coordinates every aspect of Voluntary Benefits at Work’s relationship with MISBO and their member schools. This includes marketing to the schools, account setup, group presentations, and enrollments, as well as conferences and blogs. He is MISBO’s primary point of contact and an essential element to providing services and products to uniquely meet each member school’s needs.

If asked what motivates him to work harder and produce more business, he would tell you that he has found a way to deliver financial relief to his policyholders when they are hurt or sick so they can focus on healing and the path forward. It energizes him every time someone obtains coverage as Bob knows the value and comfort it will provide the policyholder when they need it most.

As a MISBO Consortium Partner, Voluntary Benefits at Work provides the member schools with a unique new combination of products to be offered to their staff as a voluntary worksite benefit. Contact Bob Fish at 770.868.9391 or robertmfish@vbwork.com to learn more.

http://www.voluntarybenefitsatwork.com/misbo