Long-Term Care Program Comes Loaded With Options
The new federal long-term care insurance program features three prepackaged benefit plans but also allows government employees and retirees to tailor the plans to meet their individual needs, the Office of Personnel Management said yesterday.</br></br>The benefit options and premiums were announced at the kickoff of an early-enrollment season for the program. In all, an estimated 20 million Americans are eligible to apply -- civil service and postal employees and retirees; active-duty and retired military personnel; and spouses, survivors and certain other family members.</br></br>The program provides a way for government employees and retirees to obtain insurance to cover such costly long-term services as nursing home care, assisted-living care and adult day care.</br></br>"Employees and retirees who sign up gain security because they have the peace of mind knowing that they can maintain their financial independence and personal dignity if they one day are unable to take care of themselves," OPM Director Kay Coles James said. "Families gain security because they know they will have the best possible options available to them in the event that they have to make one of life's most difficult choices regarding the care of their parents or loved ones."</br></br>The program has been in the making for 18 months, and Frank Titus, the OPM official in charge of the program, said the early- enrollment period is being offered in response to pent-up demand from employees and retirees who feel that they need to enroll as soon as possible.