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Because same-sex couples arent afforded the same legal protections as conventional married couples, their long term care insurance needs can be even more essential in financial planning, say advisors.
Like most other Americans, gay and lesbian couples are slow to accept the need for LTC insurance protection against one or both partners extended illness late in life, notes Erica Bell, an attorney with Weiss, Buell & Bell, New York, who often advises gay clients.
"Most couples are focused on other issues," she says.
Gay couples have the same financial planning needs as any other couple in many ways, notes Connie Cohrt, a financial advisor with Hornor Townsend & Kent, New York, a Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company agency.
"They have the same need for basic security, to love and be loved, and to make meaning of their lives," she says. "The difference is the American legal environment that treats same-sex partners and married couples differently."
Susan Wright, a principal of LTC Funding Group, LLC, St. Louis, says LTC insurance can be even more important for some gay and lesbian clients than for traditional couples.
"One partner could lose a home if the other needed long term care," Wright says. "A lot dont have family support and dont have children to help out if they fall ill."
Yet many have significant assets to protect, she adds.
Cohrt says her own same-sex partner would not be able to roll over her IRA plan assets tax free if Cohrt were to die, nor would she be entitled to her social security benefits, even though theyve been together almost 30 years.
That is why its important for same-sex couples to get as much insurance as they can afford while they are still qualified, including LTC, she advises.
Wright points out that gay and lesbian individuals may not feel comfortable in a traditional nursing home. That makes the home-care option offered in most LTC policies even more attractive to these clients.
