Shopping around for a long-term care policy can be confusing. Mutual of Omaha offers Secure Solution for a long-term care insurance option. They also offer a Custom Solution option. Both policies offer a fair amount of flexibility, since you are able to choose how long you want your elimination period to be and you can choose how you receive benefits—either a reimbursement option or a cash option. It is a great traditional long-term care insurance policy with lots of customization and flexibility.
How Much does Mutual Of Omaha Long Term Care Insurance Cost?
For our quote, we selected a 50-year old female in good health, non-smoker. This is for the Secure Solution plan.
- Maximum monthly benefit: $6,000
- Policy limit: $288,000
- Benefit period: Four years
- Elimination period: 90 days
- Premium: $2,892 a year
There is no inflation option on this policy, although policies with inflation options are available at a higher cost. Secure Solution is a fairly traditional long-term care insurance policy. It does offer some flexibility.
For similar benefits, traditional long term care insurance is much cheaper than hybrid long-term care insurance. Even with the cheapest insurance company, hybrid long-term care insurance can cost as much as $8,000 in annual premiums. However, hybrid long-term care insurance offers benefits that traditional long-term care insurance doesn’t. If you don’t need long-term care insurance after years of paying premiums, your beneficiaries will receive a good amount in death benefits when you pass away. So, technically, you don’t lose all money you have paid in the policy.
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To tap into the benefits of the plan, you must be unable to perform at least two of six activities of daily living:
- Feeding
- Bathing
- Toileting
- Continence
- Transferring
- Dressing
Alternatively, you could have a cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer’s or dementia. After this occurs, you file a claim and then wait for the elimination period to pass.
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Great Features of Mutual of Omaha’s Long-Term Care Insurance
One great option is the shared care option. This is available as a rider. If you and your spouse are insured on the same policy, both spouses have access to each other’s policy if needed. This could come in handy if just one of you is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and the other remains healthy.
You can also choose either the reimbursement option or receive 30% of the reimbursement amount to cover home health care. (The Custom Solution option offers 40%). There is no elimination period with this option. So, if you have a maximum benefit of $6,000 a month, you can take up to $1,800 a month in cash to pay for a home health care aid, if you don’t need hospitalization. This is great for seniors who are able to stay in their homes but need some help with daily activities.
You can customize quite a bit with a Mutual of Omaha long-term care policy. If you want, you can extend the elimination period to as long as 365 days. Why would anyone do that? It’s kind of like a deductible on your car insurance—you’ll pay less in premiums, but if you do need the insurance, you’ll have to cover your initial costs out-of-pocket before the insurance kicks in. Some people get worried that they will never use their long-term care insurance, so having a long elimination period might be okay if you have the funds to cover costs for that period of time.
For the most part, Mutual of Omaha has good customer service reviews, earning an A+ on the BBB’s website. There are nine reviews and 115 complaints, which actually isn’t terrible for a company as big as Mutual of Omaha. The NAIC gives them a complaint ratio of .65, which means they got less complaints than you would expect.
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Last Thoughts
Not many companies sell long-term care insurance these days, and if you need a flexible, customizable policy, Mutual of Omaha could work for you. They even offer a Return of Premium option if you change your mind. Certainly, Mutual of Omaha is worthy of consideration.