KIRKLAND, Wash. — As a growing number of women live alone, millions must look out for themselves without a partner to assist them. They can handle it, but what if they have a spell of bad luck, like Paula Taylor? Ms. Taylor, a single professional woman, suddenly found herself in a wheelchair after an accident, unable to walk or work for several months. “How can independent women like Paula look out for themselves when they’re incapacitated?” says Cameron Truesdell, CEO of LTC Financial Partners LLC, the nation’s most experience long term care insurance brokerage.
“Where does the money come from to get them though the down times?” Both sexes need long term care insurance, he says, “but women have a special need.”
He points to sobering U.S. Census Bureau statistics:
– Working women make only 77 cents for every dollar earned my men.** Their lower pay makes them less able to salt away emergency funds.
– More than half of all women 15 and older, 51%, say they live without a spouse.** They don’t have that significant other, with that second income, to supplement their own earnings and savings.
– Women, married as well as unmarried, tend to outlive men, making married women vulnerable when they suddenly become single. At 85 and older, twice as many women as men are still alive.**
(** According to the latest Census Bureau findings.)
Luckily, Paula Taylor had a long term care insurance policy to help with care expenses not covered by ordinary health insurance. Seeing first-hand the value of the protection, she became passionate about helping other women, as well as men, “be aware of the need to consider long term care in their financial planning,” as she puts it. She earned certification as a long term care insurance broker and is now a Partner in Truesdell’s organizations.
During this period she bought a second policy because she didn’t think she had enough coverage. This turned out to be fortunate. Recently, as fate would have it, she had another accident, breaking her leg a second time. “Someone ran a red light and smashed my car,” she says. “Yes, my beautiful new Prius. Not so bad; no one hurt.”
But that’s not the end of the story. “The tow truck driver gave me a ride home. When getting out of the tow truck, I did not realize how high it was and essentially stepped into air. Fell to the ground onto my leg. I hoped for a sprain but got a small fracture. Small but big enough to disrupt my life again.” Her two long term care insurance policies were in place to cushion the blow. Though unable to walk or drive, she can work; and her policies allow her to hire help so she can perform her duties at home. “Without that help, I would have to go to a facility. No one wants that.”
As more women like her face crises and bounce back, long term care insurance is available to help them, says Truesdell. “It’s becoming a tool of self-reliance as America moves away from traditional forms of support, whether provided by a partner or government.”
Information on long term care insurance is available at LTC Hotline, manned by Truesdell’s organization: http://www.ltchotline.com.
[tags]long term care insurance brokerage, Cameron Truesdell, LTC Financial Partners[/tags]
