Under the Life Bridge Benefits Plan, Fixed Amounts are Paid Directly to Long-Term Care Providers

Author: LifeBridge | Posted: 24.08.2012

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has cautioned that escalating health care costs must be curbed in order for the U.S. government to bring the federal debt down to sustainable levels. Indeed, Bernanke declared that “[the] elephant in the room is really health care costs.”

According to a survey by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, entitled Results from a 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey for State Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012, state spending on Medicaid is predicted to rise by 28.7% in fiscal year 2012. This estimate stands out since in the beginning of fiscal year 2012, 42 states had to grapple with a budget shortfall, collectively totaling $103 billion. Meanwhile, 24 states already predict budget gaps totaling $46 billion in 2013.

The economic downturn, coupled with exacting governmental cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, has altered the landscape of long-term care funding.

In the wake of the economic crisis of 2008, seniors have faced a much more daunting task in paying for long-term care costs. LifeBridge Benefits provides seniors with a private sector alternative that can both pay for long-term care as well as delay seniors from going onto Medicaid. In lieu of surrendering or allowing a policy to lapse, the LifeBridge Benefits conversion policy option enables seniors to use the policy to prolong their capability of covering long-term care expenses on their own and to delay going on Medicaid—an outcome that is advantageous not only to the policy owner but also to all tax payers.

Once the LifeBridge Benefits Plan enrollment procedure is completed, the long-term care provider receives monthly payments from a third-party benefit administrator during the term of the benefit period. When a policy owner predeceases the term of the benefit period, the residual benefit amount is distributed to the family or a designated beneficiary as a last expense payment. Since timeliness is an utmost concern for seniors and their family members dealing with long-term care uncertainties, the enrollment process of the LifeBridge Benefits Plan is arranged to be rapid, straightforward, and capable of being concluded in thirty (30) to sixty (60) days.

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