Long-Term Care Guide: Activities of Daily Living

For most people who hope to purchase long term care insurance, an often misunderstood concept is that LTCI is a cure or treatment for a certain disease or condition. To save your precious time and resources, understand that insurance for long term care mainly provides coverage for a person’s “activities of daily living,” otherwise known as ADL.

Long term care insurance provides the care and support that policy holders need to accomplish their ADLs. The main reason why such assistance is needed is because most policy holders belong to the elderly generation, and or are disabled individuals (due to diseases or mental conditions). Also, in order for a person to be qualified for long term care insurance, he or she needs to be unable to perform two (depending and on other policies, three) ADLs. ADLs also help caregivers (whether from nursing homes and care facilities to in-home caregivers like family members and loved ones) to properly identify the policy holder’s struggles, to help formulate and improve on how care, support, and assistance should be given. Find out more about ADLs here, for you to further comprehend how an LTC insurance policy works (and to give you an idea of how and what the perspective of caregivers and LTC agents are).

Eating

Deals with assisting the policy holder in preparation (shopping for ingredients and food items, handling of kitchen equipment, cooking) and intake of food and fluid. Additionally, the caregiver also creates a meal plan which will help the policy holder receive the proper and the diet that a doctor would suggest. 

Bathing

Assists the policy holder in washing his or her body. Aside from achieving good hygiene, caregivers also offer security (especially if the policy holder needs to get in and out of a tub or shower area) to make sure that the policy holder is safe from harm in the bath area. Additional and related task to this particular ADL is making sure that the bath area is a safe area (checking and maintenance of bathroom facilities, with the option to install fixtures such as rubber mats to protect the elderly or disabled individual).

Toileting

This particular ADL involves helping the policy holder handle his or her business in the toilet, and to assist with other personal hygiene tasks. Similar to the bathing ADL, caregivers will also make sure that the toilet area is safe from harm. 

Dressing

Involves the task of helping the policy holder get properly dressed and, if needed, providing assistance in fastening artificial limbs, fasteners, and braces. Since related, this ADL may also extend to helping the policy holder in shopping, checking, and maintenance or repair of wardrobe and associated medical wearables.  

Transferring

Involves the mobility of the long term care insurance policy holder of getting in or out of a bed or sleeping area. Also involves making sure that the policy holder is safe while prone in a chair, or properly secured in a wheelchair and other similar mobility tools (crutches and the like). May also extend to making sure that the area where the policy holder plans to move (or even so, the living area, especially for in-home care) is safe and hazard-free. 

Continence

The assistance and monitoring of a policy holder’s capability to maintain bowel and bladder function and control. Like toileting, caregivers also assist in providing proper personal hygiene. Also involves the proper use, installation, and maintenance of colostomy bag, catheter, adult diapers, etc. (if needed).

Instrumental Activities of Daily Living

Further expanding the assistance and need of ADLS, instrumental activities of daily living (or IADLs) are defined as the complex tasks and skills needed for daily living. These IADLs usually deal with:

• Financial management and proper budgeting of the policy holder’s funds.
• Groceries, shopping, and other purchases related to daily living.
• Meal planning and preparation.
• Assistance in using communication devices and other gadgets (telephone, computer, etc.).
• Housework (from maintenance and installation of fixtures).
• Management of medication (may also involve a doctor or care facility’s coordination).
• Transportation (from driving a vehicle to being there with the policy holder during commutes)

As such, it is recommended that caregivers create a checklist to make sure that proper care and support is provided. Also, the checklist (if possible) must also be created in collaboration with the policy holder, in order that resources are properly and sufficiently allocated in providing care service.

Planning as early as now for long term care insurance is both practical (premiums increase with the policy holder’s age, so it is highly advisable to purchase a plan early) and easy. And by understanding how activities of daily living work will help you craft and personalize a long term care plan that will work best for your circumstances.

Take the first step to a more comfortable life by requesting for a long term care insurance quote here.