Without proper planning, if you need care late in life you may quickly burn through your retirement savings paying for it. In addition to death benefit protection, certain life insurance products also offer riders that offer financial benefits if you became chronically ill and needed care. Talk to your financial professional to learn what options are available to you.

You may be surprised to learn that government programs, like Medicare and Medicaid, are not likely to cover the full costs of care you may need. Medicare only helps pay for medically necessary health care services and may not provide support for other services you need. Medicaid is only available to specific low‐income individuals and families that meet certain eligibility requirements.

Health insurance covers skilled acute care, but like Medicare, may not cover other services you may need. Disability insurance is intended to help replace some of the working person’s income when a disability prevents them from working; it is not designed to cover medical expenses. Traditional long-term care insurance may be a good alternative or supplement to other plans, but the money spent on premiums may be lost if you never need long-term care services.

With so many options, or perhaps just because it’s an uncomfortable topic, many people end up using their retirement assets to pay for these expenses, which is equivalent to self-insuring. The risk of self-insuring is that if you need care later in life, the high costs of care could quickly deplete your retirement assets when you can least afford it.

If you should fall chronically ill, certain riders available with many of today’s life insurance products allow you to access your death benefit as a living benefit and you may use these funds for any reason—medical or non-medical.

Managing your care can be as difficult a challenge as saving enough to pay for it. But there is help in sight. Professional care coordination services can provide licensed health care practitioners to guide you and your loved ones through each step of the claims process, from understanding your options to helping certify your condition to helping you identify and coordinate the care you need. Such a service can make a huge difference in the kind of concierge care you receive.