The state that you live in impacts what long term care concerns you will have. If you happen to live in the state of Illinois, then your main health concerns will also be impacted by whether you live in Chicago or in a more rural town. Regardless of your risks you will want to plan ahead for your potential long term care needs.
The Illinois climate is the first hazard that you need to deal with when trying to mitigate for your long term care needs. The climate experiences both extremely high temperatures and extremely low temperatures. You need to learn how to remain safe when exposed to both high and low temperatures, and you also need to learn how to avoid weather related hazards like ice storms, blizzards and floods.
Contagious diseases are also a hazard in Illinois that you need to be aware of. There are many diseases that can lead to chronic care needs. For example, HIV cripples your immune system and requires chronic medication consumption and chronic health maintenance.
The next set of hazards that you need to deal with relate to city and rural lifestyles. Urban hazards include traffic accidents, violent crimes and pollution. Rural hazards include lack of available care, farm equipment accidents, car accidents and exposure to extreme weather. As you can see you really aren’t safe anywhere you live. This is why you need to be proactive when it comes to protecting your health and safety.
Long term health care insurance scams are just as prevalent as other types of scams. If you are interested in buying long term care insurance you need to be aware of tricks of the trade to prevent your pocketbook from being picked by unscrupulous insurance agencies and scam artists.
The first scam that you can be victimized by is one that claims to be an alternative option to long term care insurance. This scam sells a protection plan for long term care. While some of these offers may be legitimate, they are so new to the market that they have yet to be proven one way or the other. However, the medical coverage discount plans that cover long term care procedures are legitimate and if they are offered by reputable organizations are okay to buy.
Another scam, or rather trick, that some ltc insurance agents use is a high pressure sale tactic on vulnerable demographics. They may target senior citizens or people who have high risks for certain degenerative or chronic illnesses and try to scare them into buying a policy that is full of bells and whistles that they don’t need. It is important to understand what coverage you already have and compare it to what is covered by your other insurances. You don’t want to double up on your coverage as this is just a waste of money.
Have you been targeted by an insurance scam? Have you heard of an ltc scam? Do you know of insurance agents that are less than reputable? Post your remarks below and help others from being victimized.
Last Tuesday I watched an episode of Oprah that I found very interesting. It was on medical mistakes. I was shocked at the severity of the medical mistakes that were being routinely made for things like removing the wrong organs, operating on the wrong side of the body and giving the wrong medications to patients. Since this blog is all about protecting your health I thought that medical mistakes would make a good topic for discussion.
The first piece of advice that was given in this episode of Oprah by Dr. Oz was that you have to be your own advocate. This means speaking up for yourself and demanding the medical professionals that are caring for you to treat you like you matter. This includes asking them to wash their hands, to remove rings and other jewelry and to tuck in their neckties when examining or treating you. It also means seeking second and third opinions for medical treatments when you don’t agree with the recommendations made by your physician.
Another piece of advice that can help you to reduce your chances of needing long term care because of a medical mistake is to take steps to ensure you get the appropriate treatments. For example, Dr. Oz recommended that you write on your body which side to operate on and which side not to operate on. He said that you can write “cut here” on the side of your body that is supposed to be operated on and “don’t cut here” on the side that is not slated for surgery. These small steps can save you a lot of grief, pain and complications.
There are only a few weeks left in winter and spring will finally be here. This is good news for people who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder or who feel trapped by winter conditions. However, with every new season comes new hazards to be weary of, and in the springtime you need to be careful of allergens, outdoor activities and yard work.
Springtime allergies can lead to many problems from simple congestion to full blown cases of bronchitis. If you have an allergy problem that you suffer from year after to year visit your doctor. Talk to him or her about getting tested for allergies and if you have them see what treatment options you have. For some medication is a good option, however, for others a simple nettie pot works wonders.
The second major hazard associated with springtime is overexertion. This can lead to physical fatigue, strained muscles and other injuries. To prevent these problems you need to be smart about venturing back into an active lifestyle. Learn to stretch before starting outdoor chores and activities, build up your activity intensity level and wearing proper shoes and protective gear.
While there are many different hazards that can lead to injuries and health problems during the springtime, the spring is actually a great time of year for your health. The weather is mild and spirits tend to be high during this season. Also, most people enjoy getting outside and being more active. This spring take advantage of the weather and improve your health with more physical activity, by being careful when venturing outside and by enhancing the health of your diet. All of these things will help you to get the best long term care insurance rates.
Last week we started a discussion about depression. This week I’d like to continue that discussion. This week I’d like to talk about chronic depression.
Chronic depression is a major depression disorder that lasts longer than two weeks. Chronic depression can impact every aspect of your life from your emotional stability to your ability to keep a job. Your relationships and your physical health are also impacted by chronic depression.
While most people think that long term care insurance only is used to pay for physical long term care, treatments for chronic depression can also be covered by long term care insurance. Long term care for depression will include things like prescription medication, psychological counseling and medical doctor visits.
When treated chronic depression can be managed. However, if chronic depression is left untreated, it can lead to an increase in doctors visits, an increased feeling of hopelessness, an increase in physical symptoms and an increase in medical bills overall. This is why it is so important to treat depression as it occurs so that long term impacts on your life can be avoided.
In order to help cover all of your long term care costs from physical ailments to psychological ailments, long term care insurance is a good option. To learn more about what your options are for this insurance product you need to request a long term care insurance quote from multiple insurance providers.
Over the last couple of months we have talked about ways you can prevent physical accidents. However, while preventing injury causing accidents is important and it can help you to preserve your ability to qualify for long term health care insurance, physical injuries are not the only hazard you face during the winter months. Emotional and psychological problems can also develop during the winter months.
January is a rough month for your psyche. The weather is cold, you spend long hours couped up in your house and the days are short and dreary. All of these factors add up to a high risk month for emotional disorders like depression. Depression is a condition that can strike anyone. Depression is brought on by event, chemical imbalances and by your physical surroundings. What is interesting about depression is that it produces different symptoms in different people. Some people feel tired, some feel sad and some even feel physical pain caused by their depression.
Depression can be exhibited as an acute, or temporary condition. Acute episodes of depression can be brought on by bereavement or other depressing events. Some people develop depression in January because they don’t have a holiday to look forward to for a number of months, while others develop depression episodes because they aren’t getting enough exposure to human interactions.
Seasonal Affective Disorder, also referred to as SAD, can also develop during this time of the year, especially if you live in the north latitudes. SAD is caused by a chemical deficiency caused by limited exposure to sunlight. This condition can be treated with St. John’s Wort, prescription medication and even light therapy.
A couple of weeks ago we talked about the information that you need when requesting a long term care insurance quote. This week I’d like to talk about how to select long term care policy coverage options.
In order to get the most from your long term care policy you need to select the coverage options that make sense for you and you also need to eliminate coverage options that you don’t want or need. Fortunately, most long term care programs offer you an al a carte menu which you can pick and choose from, or a series of plans that have different collections of coverage items.
Selecting coverage options is easier to do if you understand your risk factors. For example, if you have a family history of Alzheimer’s Disease or other debilitating disorders then you will want to select coverage that will include extra nursing home coverage. In addition to you risk factors you also need to look at your long term care preferences. For example, not all long term care insurance will cover in-home health care. If this is something that you want, then you will need to select an add on option for this type of coverage or you will need to select a plan that is designed to cover in-home long term care.
There are a lot of different coverage options that are available. Prescription medication coverage, for example, is an important option to select if you don’t have a private insurance policy that covers this expense. Medical supply coverage is another coverage option that can be valuable to add to your policy. Medical supplies include things like wheelchairs, motorized scooters, bandages, bed pads, portable commodes, catheters and latex gloves.
Long term care ranges from ongoing help with basic hygiene to long term wound management and medication management care. Most people will require long term care in one form or another at some point in their lives. For some people long term care won’t be required until the last decade of their lives while for others the need for long term care starts in their middle years. While some conditions are not preventable, there are ways to improve your chances that you won’t need long term care until much later in your life.
Preventing holiday accidents is one of the easiest ways you can postpone your need for long term care. There are a lot of things that happen during the holiday season that put you at risk for accidents that could lead to a need for ongoing medical care. Car accidents are one of those things. You can help to prevent car accidents by not drinking and driving, by driving at a speed that is appropriate for the driving conditions and by avoiding driving on days that the roads are overcrowded with holiday travelers.
Another common accident that takes place during the holidays is falling accidents. Falling accidents can be caused by slipper sidewalks, clutter in your home and winter sport activities. You can prevent falling accidents by taking a few precautions. For example, you can keep your sidewalks clear, you can use anti-skid slip-ons for your shoes and you can also be extra careful when participating in winter sports.
Finding the best long term care insurance products is not something you can do without exerting a little effort. Every insurance provider is going to promote their policies as the best on the market, however, you will not be able to tell if a policy is the best one for you unless you compare it to other policies. The easiest way to do this is to get quotes from multiple insurance companies.
To get a quote from an insurance company that sells long term care insurance you will need several pieces of information. First of all you will need basic information about you and your physical conditions. Identifying information will include things like your name, address and age. Physical condition questions will focus on things like if you are a smoker, if you drink, how much you weigh and if you have any current medical conditions like diabetes, heart disease or breathing disorders.
This basic information will be used by the insurance company to pick policies that might fit your insurance coverage needs. They will then send you this information for you to review. If you see a policy that looks good you will contact the company to discuss the policy further. During this conversation the insurance company will ask you more detailed questions about your health, family history and the amount of coverage that you want. They will also generate a price quote based on this updated information.
Next week we will talk about holiday accident prevention strategies will help keep you from needing long term care.