The Partnership for Long Term Care Insurance took effect in Oregon as of January 1, 2008.  People who purchase new qualified LTC Insurance policies are able to protect a portion of their estate from being claimed by Medicaid in the event the state eventually pays for LTC on their behalf. This is exciting for several reasons, including the fact that it is more ethical than a ‘medicaid spend-down’ and the fact that it is much more difficult to attain a ‘medicaid spend-down’ than in the past.

Long Term Care Insurance is simply insurance that helps pay for your long term care needs when they arise. A good Long Term Care Insurance (LTCi) policy will help pay for care at home or in a facility, help protect your assets from being seized by Mecaid after your death, help keep your family from feeling the guilt, envy, shame, pride, etc. that goes along with being or not being the family member who is caring for you. In this blog we’ll talk about LTCi, as well as alternative types of insurance that can help pay for long term care along with taking care of other types of insurance needs. We’ll talk about and define Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s) as being the ‘triggers’ that make one eligible to collect LTCi  insurance benefits, and we’ll talk lots of other fun, acronymical words!

Health Insurance should more properly be called Medical Insurance. After all, there is no insurance policy which can ensure that you will remain in good health! No, Health Insurance for the most part just pays for medical bills as they arise. Because Health Insurance is the commonly accepted term, however, that’s what I’ll call it. Starting after World War II, it became more and more common for employers to provide Health Insurance to their employees. This was because of the wage controls that were in place at the time. Employers had to look for ways to bring in better quality employees without actually paying them anything extra. I can’t tell you how many clients have asked me over the years ‘how come society thinks it’s my job (as an employer) to provide benefits, anyway? Now you know the rest of the story. Whether it should really be the employers’ job to provide Health Insurance or not, that is the primary vehicle. I created a PowerPoint slideshow in 2007 which briefly shows the history and development of Health Insurance in the US. If you are interested, you can check it out here (link forthcoming).

Now President Obama has a plan to take this burden out of employer’s hands, and to place it directly in the lap of taxpayers. Are you for his plan? Have you read it? Feel free to post your thoughts. We’ll be talking more about Health Insurance as it exists, particularly in the state of Oregon, as well as looking at Barak Obama’s plans for the future of US healthcare.

Employee Benefits 101 is primarily about Health, Dental, Disability, Life, Vision, and Long Term Care insurance in the workplace. We won’t be discussing retirement plans here. Group Health Insurance is the biggie for most employers due to it’s high cost and importance. Perhaps the best starting point for an employer, particularly a small employer, is to find out if they qualify to purchase a group health plan. In Oregon, small employers are defined as having from 2-50 employees, and the employer counts as one of the employees. I have posted a document here (link forthcoming) which lays out the requirement & parameters of qualifying for a group health plan.