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As I was trying to find out about Texas senior care in the internet, I read some sad facts about how a couple in Dallas had to terminate their long-term care insurance because their premiums has been significantly increased from $223 to $382 per month. Although the long-term care insurance industry is still pretty young, a lot of people are buying their peace of mind with their insurance, hoping they will be able to get a place in a Texas retirement home.

As the credit crunch is putting many families in the US in financial strain because of their mortgages and credit card debts, premiums for several types of insurance have also increased significantly, causing even more worries for the already distressed families. The premiums in long-term care insurance in Dallas for example has increased greatly to about 70% more than before.

Long-term care insurance is indeed designed to be stable in price despite any economical situation. However, many insurers have raised their premiums sometimes even by double-digit percentages. This has greatly squezed policyholders who have a fixed income.

While some of the policyholders still have to worry about losing their homes to foreclosure or getting out of credit card debt, now they have an additional problem to worry about that they won’t be able to afford the premiums for their future long-term care. Premiums on individuals’ long-term care policies are not raised based on someone’s age or declining health but on current policies by the insurers if they see that claims have substantially exceed beyond expectations.

The Texas Department of Insurance recently reviewed rate increase filings ranging from 10-48% from 9 companies. These companies include the industry’s largest companies such as Genworth Financial, John Hancock and MetLife. One of the reasons for the increase is the financial crisis.

There are a lot of people who pay premiums for many years, some even for longer than 20 years, before they are frail enough to file their first claim. Of course it is understandable that policyholders worry their premiums will one day become more and more unaffordable.

One of the most common suggestion by insurers brokers for clients who have tight budgets and can not handle a premium increase is to not simply drop their policies but scaling back benefits to keep the monthly payments about the same. However, there is also a suggestion to not cut the daily or monthly benefit or dropping the inflation protection because those kinds of reduction may leave the policyholder short of what they will need in their future care. This is because senior care is already expensive. According to Genworth’s 2009 price survey, the average national nursing home costs is about $203 daily and it is $150 in Dallas. The national average cost for assisted living is about $2,825 a month while in Dallas it averages about $2,788 per month.

Switching insurers will also not save money, especially if the policyholders have had their coverage for many years. As you get older, replacing your old policy with a newer one will mean higher rates. One thing that you can do if you are battered by premium increases is to check whether you are eligible for “contingent nonforfeiture benefits”. This way you can at least get the benefits equal to what you have already put into the policy which is obviously better than walking away.

If you are looking for a long-term care insurance, make sure that you look at the insurer’s history of premium increases. You can get a summary of Texas rate increases by calling the Department of Insurance at this number +18002523439.

A great recommendation that I received for senior care Houston is Home Care Source of Texas. If you are going to buy some peace of mind for your future, you might as well make sure that the people that are going to take care of you are caregivers that you would want to take care of you. Home Care of Texas claims to only hire caregivers who are chosen based on their character and experience first. They are also hired based on their communication skills, decision-making abilities, keen sense of awareness and sensitivity to the needs of others. The caregivers in this home are mostly Certified Nurse Aide’s with the Texas Nurse Aide Registry.

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