The Galleria family that didn't know they had $84,000/year of home care coverage

Case snapshot · 76-year-old widow, mild cognitive impairment, Galleria high-rise condominium · Care duration: Ongoing 8 months

The situation

The son called us because his mother had fallen twice in six weeks in her Post Oak condominium. He knew she needed help but was worried about cost. He had already priced private-pay hourly and was preparing to sell her Galleria condo to fund an assisted living move. During our free assessment, our Care Manager asked whether either parent had ever purchased long-term care insurance. The son didn't think so — but his mother remembered his father buying "some kind of insurance" in the mid-1990s. In an old file cabinet, we found the policy.

The outcome

The Galleria condo did not need to be sold. Assisted living was not necessary — the mother stayed in the home she and her husband had bought in 1994. The LTCI policy has been paying $6,900 per month toward her care since day 45; the family's out-of-pocket dropped to roughly $1,200 per month for the gap coverage. Over the past 8 months the policy has paid out roughly $55,000 — money that would have otherwise come from the sale of the condo or from the son.

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