The loss of autonomy, partial or total, is one of the common symptoms of old age. The five basic gestures of everyday life become, for the person who suffers from them, burdens. Getting up, getting dressed, eating, taking a shower or a bath, shopping… long-term care insurance is a provident contract, which allows you to anticipate a future in which you too may lose your independence. But is it a good trick? Decryption.
Several insurance models
Partial dependence
A person is considered to be in a state of partial dependence when it becomes impossible for them to perform two of the five basic daily actions. By having subscribed to long-term care insurance, the person will pay a monthly contribution of between 20 and 100 euros.
This will be valid until it reaches the total ceiling set beforehand in the contract. The person considered as partially dependent will benefit from an annuity corresponding to 50% of the total sum provided for in the case of total dependence (sum which may amount to up to 1500 euros per month).
Heavy (or total) dependency
Any person deprived of their ability to perform at least four of the five basic gestures of daily life is considered to be heavily dependent. She will therefore benefit from the full pension provided for. The latter will be necessary to finance constant home help and/or placement in a specialized center. It will also count for various health-related expenses.
The advantages of long-term care insurance
With regard to the statistics, the existence of long-term care insurance in France seems An evidence. Over a million older people are now considered dependent. In addition, nearly 20% of the French population is now over 65!
This insurance provides that you can subscribe to it from the age of 40, which leaves you ample time to anticipate your future. But even until the last quarter of your seventieth decade, you won’t have too much trouble finding an insurer willing to engage with you.
By subscribing, you guarantee yourself:
- A dependency pension ad vitam aeternam
- A daily support service during your period of dependency
- A capital will allow for example the preparation of your funeral
- Expert advice to prevent loss of autonomy
- Greater serenity in the family circle, the possible burden of dependency being – at least partially – taken care of.
So much for the benefits. But long-term care insurance also has other facets.
Significant black spots
Whatever insurer is chosen, and whatever the terms, it will ultimately never be anything other than a non-refundable contract. In other words, by subscribing you take the risk of never becoming dependent and therefore contributing for nothing.
And even if you become superficially dependent, all the part of the capital constituted by your contributions that you will not have had time to collect in the form of an annuity before the day of your death, will not be transferred to your heirs but will be pocketed. by the insurer. Under such conditions, it seems preferable to take out life insurance, thanks to which you can choose to receive all of the accumulated capital at once.
Another gray area of long-term care insurance is found in the clauses that punctuate many of these contracts. It is not uncommon for these clauses to be worded in a somewhat underhanded way. For example, it may not be specified that a contribution is not guaranteed over time and is likely to increase from year to year.
It can also be excessively long waiting times, which amounts to paying a fortune in a restaurant for poor table service. This can even go as far as false clauses prohibiting you from going to court when it is your strictest right. So one word: be careful with long-term care insurance!
It can be very helpful, of course, but other solutions, provided they are possible, are also worth considering, especially if you do not have a job that is dangerous to your health and if there is no history in your family of loss of independence as you approach old age.
