Welcome PKL Employees

BuddyIns is a company that assists your employer and benefits consultant as a specialist in life and long term care (LTC) insurance policies. The LTC specialists at BuddyIns believe in an education first approach to long term care planning. There is no extra cost for our services, and our specialists are happy to answer your questions to help you find the right plan for you and your family.

Long term care insurance is coverage that pays for nursing-home care, home health care, care in an assisted living facility, nursing home care, and personal or adult daycare for individuals with a chronic or disabling condition that needs constant supervision. LTC insurance may offer more flexibility and choice of providers compared and options than many to public assistance programs, such as Medicaid.

Today, there are over 50 million family members in the United States taking care of a loved one needing long term care. Caregiving can be a combination of emotional, financial, and physical support for a loved one with a severe cognitive impairment, or who cannot perform two of six activities of daily living such as bathing, eating, transferring, toileting, continence, and dressing.

LTC insurance provides funding to your loved ones should you need care due to an accident or illness expected to last at least 90 days.

• You have an opportunity through your employer to receive an LTC insurance benefit that is guaranteed acceptance meaning there are no medical questions that can deny you coverage.
• The policy offers a combination of both extended LTC insurance benefits and life insurance benefits at an affordable price. If you do not use the long term care insurance, then your family can receive the life insurance benefits instead.
• You have access to the LTC insurance specialists at BuddyIns to help you with LTC planning and choosing the amount of coverage that is right for you.

• Choose a life insurance benefit amount such as $100,000.
• Should you qualify for care, you can access 4% of the life benefit per month as a LTC benefit. For example, $100,000 of life insurance will pay $4,000 per month for LTC for 25 months.
• Should you need extended care for more than 25 months, the LTC benefit will keep paying up to 3x the life benefit for another 50 months. In this example, you may be eligible to receive up to $300,000 total for LTC over 75 months.
• As long as you continue to pay the insurance premium, your beneficiary will receive the remainder of the life insurance benefit not used for LTC when you pass away.

Your insurance premium is based on your age, how much benefits you choose, and whether you are a smoker.

LTC insurance may be more affordable than most people realize and you can choose a lower benefit amount to save on cost.

For the insurance benefits in the example above of up to $300,000 of LTC benefits over 75 months, employees in their:

• 20s, 30s, and 40s, may pay premiums ranging from $40 to $150/mo.
• 50s and 60s, premiums may range from $150 to $300/mo.

Employees can choose to keep the premiums lower by selecting less coverage. Buying a $50,000 life insurance amount of $150,000 of LTC benefits will cost half of the $100,000 life insurance amount.

California has a task force that recommended five options for a public LTC insurance program funded through a new payroll tax on employees. The proposed design is similar to Washington state, which began collecting a payroll tax in July for all w2 employees in July of 2023.

While we do not know for sure the outcome of this potential legislation, the task force did recommend that purchasing private LTC insurance may be eligible to opt out of the payroll tax.

BuddyIns recommends purchasing private insurance for the value of the coverage regardless of the outcome of this legislation. However, the LTC features of this policy were filed with the LTC department of insurance and may be eligible for opt out, but final determination depends on the state legislation.

If you can comfortably afford the premiums, LTC insurance can be valuable at any age. None of us are immune to an accident or illness that may require care. Many individuals receiving long term care are under the age of 65.

In addition, pre-existing health issues can make it difficult to obtain LTC insurance from individual policies. This policy does not ask any medical questions when purchased during the enrollment window.

Planning for LTC insurance can be one of the more meaningful things that you can do for your family and give comfort to your family members that might otherwise not have as much support as caregivers.

The premium will be deducted via payroll deduction.

The policy is designed to be portable, so as long as you continue to pay the premium directly to the insurance company after you leave your employer, you can still receive the insurance benefits.

Please note that BuddyIns cannot provide legal advice or guarantee that certain LTC insurance products will be approved by WA state for exemption.