Long Term Care Insurance Association Supports LTC Awareness Month

Los Angeles, CA, October 19, 2012 --(PR.com)-- November is Long Term Care Awareness Month, an opportunity for Americans to learn more about a topic that impacts tens of millions of consumers.

"Long term care is needed by over 20 million Americans who need help with their health and personal care," declares Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. The trade group, founded in 1998, is the leading organization supporting insurance professionals who market LTC solutions and Slome was the creator in 2001 of national Long Term Care Awareness Month.

Long term care services include personal care services like bathing, doing household chores that enable a person to remain independent. "While most people associate the term long-term care with nursing home care, the vast majority of care is provided in people's homes," Slome explains.

"Medicare and other health insurance do not cover most long-term care services and the costs can be quite high," Slome notes. "There is a good chance you will have to turn family members into unpaid caregivers or pay for services from your income or savings and, as a result, people need to do some planning."

To help create awareness during Long Term Care Awareness Month, the Association makes available marketing and sales material to insurance and financial professionals. The material can be accessed on the organization's website with additional material available exclusively for members.

"Long Term Care Awareness Month is the perfect time for people to take just a few minutes to acquaint themselves with the topic," Slome urges. "We like to say that Long-Term Care is a universal issue facing all Americans who are living long lives and that a failure to plan is nothing more than a plan for failure."

According to the trade group some eight million Americans have long-term care insurance policies. "Insurance is not the universal solution and one has to health qualify in order to obtain this valuable protection," Slome adds. "Most people wait too long to get the information they need to make educated decisions."

Established in 1998 as a non-profit trade group, the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance advocates for the importance of planning for long term care and supports insurance and financial professionals who market LTC insurance. To learn more about long term care insurance costs call the organization’s offices at (818) 597-3227 or visit the Association’s website.