My longest tenured daily companion is really slowing down. Jazzo (front and center on the May 2017 cover) is an 80 pound golden retriever/chow mix who has accompanied me through myriad highs and lows for the past 15 years with steadfast unconditional love. Bad hips, sore ankle joints and periodic weakness in his legs cause markedly limited mobility. He has significant difficulty getting up and down the few stairs between us and his still much loved walks, which now take about 30 minutes to traverse about half a block. With increasing frequency he slips on the hardwood floors when my wife and I are away and can’t get up on his own, his struggles sometimes leaving him too fatigued to stand or walk without several hours rest.
To paraphrase Andrew Marvell: “At my back I too clearly hear, Time’s winged chariot hurrying near.” And it sucks.
In our society, Kevorkian acolytes notwithstanding, we aren’t faced with the heartbreaking trauma of initiating and witnessing (yes, I believe that final comfort and companionship is owed for the love we’ve received) the euthanization of loved ones still conscious. Quality of life determinations are supplanted by degrees of self-reliance and the very real emotional, financial and physical toll on family members providing care in the home.
Not that long ago in people years, the prevailing misconception in our industry was that the entire financial weight of the long term care risk should be transferred to the insurance carrier for the longest conceivable lifespan of the insured, if at all possible, via stand-alone LTCI. As is trumpeted herein monthly by one of my dearest friends, Ron Hagelman, ever-zealous long term care sage, the thinking surrounding the long term care dilemma for your clients not invited to Harry and Meghan’s nuptials has shifted from “Sit”…”Stay”…to a game of fetch—involving the collection and examination of a variety of your client’s assets to minimize the financial and emotional cannibalization of his offspring. Social Security, LTCI, asset-based long term care, permanent insurance policy loans, care annuities, life settlements and reverse mortgages can all contribute to maximizing the quality of the level of care your client needs. Ideally you helped your client amass some of the assets available, to your financial gain, and now it’s time to provide comfort to your client and his family by helping formalize the plan for care.
Ron strives to not only shift the mindset of LTCI producers, but to scratch persistently at the door of all insurance professionals to get them to recognize the urgent, perhaps unrecognized, need of their clients to plan for the very real risk of a long term care situation and to take steps to help them while as many options as possible still remain. It’s not about a Utopian life—it’s about the inestimable benefits of attaining the highest level of dignity and comfort possible in a difficult time through maintaining choice and minimizing the emotional and financial burden on one’s family.
You are truly a Godsend to your clients when you can help orchestrate a plan that can maintain choice for your clients and their families as they move along the long term care spectrum. Less guilt and shame for delegation of caregiving duties to the best and most compassionate and personable home care providers. Attractive and vibrant assisted living facilities. Private rooms at nursing homes with spotless records, truly dedicated, attentive, compassionate staff and well-documented exceptional care.
Jazzo’s predecessor, a wonderful shepherd mix named Madison, passed away in her sleep one night after enjoying her evening half hour tour of the yards facing mine across the street and a loving scratching/petting session which she dutifully paid for with several licks on my nose. And somewhere in the darkness, the Gambler he broke even…[SPH]
