LTCI Watch: Will the Grandchildren Have First Cousins?

My 9-year-old daughter is an only child. She has our future planned out. She will become an FBI agent, then a rock star, and then buy a horse farm, and she will make room for me in the rock star house in Hollywood. Or, possibly, on the horse farm.

My mother’s parents solved the long-term care (LTC) problem by dying quickly of acute illnesses.

My paternal grandfather went to work at his carpet store one day when he was 86, had a cerebral hemorrhage, then stayed in acute-care facilities paid for by Medicare till he died shortly before the acute-care benefits would have run out.

My paternal grandmother’s strategy was to have four children, one of whom proved to have superhuman stamina when it came to providing family LTC and supervising informal care. The other three children are very nice and very loving, but not as willing or able to drive, arrange medical appointments, or help with personal care. My grandmother also avoided large LTC bills by dying shortly before running out of Medicare acute skilled nursing benefits, but it was a close call.

My daughter doesn’t have any older first cousins or young aunts on my side who will be making her a flower girl at weddings, and possibly be in a position to help with LTC responsibilities in years to come.

She won’t have the luxury of sharing responsibility for care with siblings, and I won’t be able to count on one of several children having the combination of time and personal traits needed to help me if I need care. What if my daughter’s career as a rock star goes poorly, or her career as an FBI agent requires more travel than she expects?

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the percentage of mothers with just one child increased to 23% in 2000, from 10% in 1980. The 2010 numbers are not yet available, but it may be that the percentage of only children is at least as high today, and perhaps higher in the kinds of high-priced areas where any kind of housing, and any kind of acute care or LTC is likely to be high.

For those only children, LTC insurance (LTCI) for the parents is really freedom insurance. It can give the only children a chance to decide what kinds of responsibility they can handle, and not force them to choose between continuing a promising, rewarding career and providing a minimum level of care for us parents, or between their spouses and their parents, or between their children and their parents.

LTCI PERSONNEL

My 9-year-old daughter is an only child. She has our future planned out. She will become an FBI agent, then a rock star, and then buy a horse farm, and she will make room for me in the rock star house in Hollywood. Or, possibly, on the horse farm.

My mother’s parents solved the long-term care (LTC) problem by dying quickly of acute illnesses.

My paternal grandfather went to work at his carpet store one day when he was 86, had a cerebral hemorrhage, then stayed in acute-care facilities paid for by Medicare till he died shortly before the acute-care benefits would have run out.