New e-book, 'Help on the Way,' explores long-term health-care funding

[April 23, 2014]  Chris Orestis, senior health-care advocate and CEO of Life Care Funding, has published a free e-book, "Help on the Way," that details the slowly unfolding crisis happening now in the United States: a "Silver Tsunami" of aging Americans with no way to pay for long-term care.

Since 2011, 10,000 baby boomers a day are turning 65 — retirement age. But many don't have enough money to retire, much less pay for long-term health care if they should require it. They're joining 40 million older seniors.

"Unfortunately, as we age, we're more likely to suffer a disease or disability that requires daily caregiving, which can be expensive," says Orestis, a former insurance industry lobbyist. "Faced with that, many people cancel their life insurance policies in order to qualify for Medicaid or to save on premiums.

"What I have been educating consumers for years about and address in my book is something that the insurance industry has kept secret for decades because they profit from the cancellations: Your policy can be used to pay for long-term health care such as home care, assisted-living or nursing home expenses."

Orestis, who has been lobbying state legislatures to make the public aware of their legal right to use this option, says seniors can sell their policy for a substantial percent of its death benefit value and put the money into an irrevocable fund designated specifically for their care.

In "Help on the Way," Orestis explains the legalities of a senior using their life insurance policy to stay in control of their care; facts about Medicare and Medicaid eligibility; the forms of care that can be covered; and dangerous liabilities that can affect unsuspecting families of seniors, among other topics.

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Chris Orestis, nationally known senior health-care advocate and expert, is CEO of Life Care Funding, which created the model for converting life insurance policies into protected long-term care benefit funds. His company has been providing care benefits to policyholders since 2007. A former life insurance industry lobbyist with a background in long-term care issues, he created the model to provide an option for middle-class people who are not wealthy enough to pay for long-term care and not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.

[Text from file received from News and Experts]

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