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Are you prepared for retirement and old age? While it may still be a long way off and there are usually a lot more urgent things to take care of, dealing with some of the requirements of old age, either for yourself or for someone you care about, a huge difference can be made by a few simple steps.

While saving for a pension and having good medical insurance are two of the most common steps, there is also the scope for long term care insurance, which may also be of great potential use in certain situations. This type of insurance covers the need for assistance in old age. Old age, as well as mental and physical illness can lead to many people needing assistance with such everyday tasks as eating, bathing and dressing. Simply looking after you can be too much for many people and when they are faced with this situation, assisted living and long term care can be an option.

Long-term care insurance can step in to help pay for the costs of such care. Do you think you may need such care? Will you be able to afford it if you do? Long-term care can last for many years and it is very expensive. Without the proper insurance, many people simply could not afford it. You may be planning to rely on Medicare or your own private health insurance policy. However, Medicare does not pay for custodial treatment of this kind. It is simply too expensive and you will therefore have to seek alternative living arrangements. Even private medical insurance will not foot the bill for long-term care.

If you think you will be very short of money by the time you need long term care you may qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid steps in to pay for medical care for the very poor. The good thing about Medicaid is that it will pay for long-term care. It is difficult to qualify for it though. You must be in the right wealth level and this is difficult to guarantee. The provisions of Medicaid are also liable to change so there's no guarantee that just because long term care is provided for now, that it will be in the future. If you are in serious doubt as to your ability to qualify for Medicaid, then it is unwise to rely on it.

Long term care can make a huge difference to your quality of life and well being in old age so if you think it is something you would like to make use of, the sooner you look into insurance for it, the better.