Own Your Future Iowa

Angela V. has had more than her share of experience helping to care for elderly relatives, including the opportunity to see how planning for long-term care needs can make all the difference in how a loved one experiences old age. A resident of central Iowa, Angela (along with her  brother and sister) have seen first-hand the difference between planning ahead for needing long-term care in the future and not planning for that possibility.

In the late 1980s, Angela’s father died, and she and her siblings helped to care for their grandmother, who decided to live in Florida near her sisters. It was a difficult time; Angela was busy raising small children and juggling a job. Making routine visits to Florida to help her grandmother make living arrangements and medical care decisions long distance was not ideal for Angela or for her grandmother.

That experience has informed her decisions about her own future and opened the avenue to discussions with family members about how they wanted their older years to unfold. “While we can’t plan our medical futures, we can have those difficult discussions about where to live and how we wish to be treated if we are ever unable to make decisions or speak for ourselves because of illness or injury,” said Angela.

“After seeing the difficulties our grandmother had in her final years, we talked with my mother about her plans.  In addition to planning to move closer to us when she retired, our mom had a professional financial planner evaluate her finances to see if it made sense to purchase long-term care insurance,” she added.

Angela knows that many people would just rather not think about these things and therefore fail to plan. Although she and her husband are nowhere near retirement, they want to make all the needed arrangements in advance. They have prepared their wills, have advance directives, and powers of attorney in place. “We don’t want our kids to face those difficult decisions without understanding what we want and how it will be paid for. That’s peace of mind.”

As part of a federal-state government education campaign, later this summer, Governor Chet Culver is sending letters to households with individuals ages 45 to 65 telling them about the importance of planning ahead for long-term care needs. So what should people do when they receive that letter offering the “Own Your Future” long-term care planning guide?

Angela says, “They should order the planning guide and check it out. People need to get comfortable with talking about their wishes and planning for the end of life and the possibility of needing long-term care. Doing these things before it’s an emergency makes all the difference. I’m glad my family has had these conversations and taken steps to plan for the future. People need to make sure they have a will, evaluate their finances and health care arrangements, and consider insurance if it makes sense for them. Having a plan can really make a difference.”

For more information about how you can begin planning ahead for your or a loved one’s long-term care needs, order the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ free Long-Term Care Planning Guide by calling 1-866-PLAN-LTC or at www.longtermcare.gov/campaign/ia