Retirement Living with a Health Investment Plan

Recognizing retirees need to have a plan for the costs of future healthcare, Morningstar Living recently launched a Health Investment Plan. The plan provides retirement living at one of Morningstar Living’s communities with funds for future healthcare expenses.

Morningstar Living is the developer, owner and operator of two life plan communities in Nazareth, PA. According to Lori Shaffer, Sales Director at Morningstar Living, “People typically purchase long-term care insurance policies to protect their assets from the high costs of healthcare. But over the years we’ve seen a drop in the number of applicants at our communities who have long-term care insurance. But most people want some type of financial security to protect their assets from future healthcare expenses.”

According to AARP, 70% of people over the age of 65 will need some type of long-term care in the future. And that’s because people are living longer. And because people are living longer, they’re living longer with chronic illnesses that limit their ability to be independent. These illnesses can go on for decades, and typically they cannot be cured. For this reason you need to be planning for 3-5 years of healthcare services that include personal care, memory care, assisted living services, and 24/7 nursing home care.

So how will you pay for long-term care? Medicare covers a prescribed number of days of healthcare services after a hospital stay. But after the maximum number of days for short-term recovery from hospitalization is reached, you pay privately from your personal finances. Medicaid, on the other hand, is only available to people who meet low income and asset eligibility criteria. And Medicaid applies to 24/7 nursing care only.