After a claim is made for LTC in-home care for an alzheimer’s patient and the LTC insurance has accepted and is paying the claims, when do the premiums stop? M. Foreman

It depends on the policy, but usually when benefits start.  Some older policies delay the waiver of premium until 90 days after benefits begin. Also, some older policies only waive the premium when the claimant is in a nursing home. The time of the waiver will be stated clearly in the policy. If you no longer have it, you should ask the insurance company to send a copy. While you are asking for that, also ask when the premium is waived. This is a great feature of long-term care insurance, isn’t it? Many newer policies allow you to pay a little extra and have the premium stop on both spouses/partners when only one is on claim. If that one dies however, the premium returns.  Now, if you don’t want the premium to return, you can add another option called “survivor”. It costs about 9% additional premium and means in most plans that after 10 years if one spouse dies, the surviving spouse has a paid-up policy.

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