The life expectancy of the French may increase regularly, it does not guarantee to spend all his retirement in good health. Consequently, the loss of autonomy is undoubtedly the number 1 fear of seniors who fear in particular its sometimes very high financial cost. In addition to public aid, insurers offer an additional safety net: long-term care insurance.
What is this coverage?
Like all insurance, this protection makes it possible to protect oneself against a risk. In this case, it is a question of taking charge of the financial consequences of a loss of autonomy. In other words, the company will pay a certain amount of money (in capital or in the form of an annuity) when the deterioration of the state of health of the insured requires care, the intervention of services to the person, the adaptation of the home to the handicap, or even a placement in a retirement home.
In addition to financial coverage, the market offers also include assistance and prevention services which can range from carrying out a complete health check up to administrative support.
What is meant by addiction?
It is the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of taking care of yourself without outside help. But the whole problem lies in its evaluation. Indeed, there is no legal basis imposing a base of criteria common to insurers. Each formula therefore sets its own rules.
To determine the degree of dependence, certain contracts refer for example to the ADL grid. This targets the five basic acts of daily life, namely transfers between sitting, lying and standing positions, movement, washing, dressing and eating. Other insurance companies, however, prefer to use the Aggir grid, which is more recognized since it is used to allocate the personalized autonomy allowance (APA). In any case, you should know that the criteria are strict and that a small accident is not enough to activate this type of guarantee. It is also possible to collect the APA and not be considered dependent by the insurer.
What modalities should you pay attention to?
As with any contract, you must carefully read the offers of long-term care insurance, in order to compare them as well as possible. First, you need to determine how much coverage you want. Depending on the formulas and prices, the guarantees will be activated at different degrees of loss of autonomy: in the event of partial dependence (if one can no longer perform two or three elementary acts of daily life alone), total (when 'we need almost total) or heavy support.
We must also pay attention to waiting periods which vary from one to three years depending on the contract. However, during this time, the insured will not be covered if his health deteriorates. Finally, insurance most often includes deductibles which set an intervention threshold below which the guarantees will not work.
At what age should you subscribe?
If the subscription of this type of contract can be carried out until around 70 years, the amount of contributions to be paid increases with age. Under 55, for example, it takes between 20 and 60 euros per month to offer a guarantee against total or partial dependence, knowing that compensation in the form of an annuity is cheaper than paying a lump sum . In their sixties, prices reach between 40 and 80 euros and climb to almost 100 euros beyond.
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