If someday you, or a loved one, can’t feed, dress or bathe yourself, who’s going to do it? What if you require 24/7 care because of age, an illness or an accident which could happen anytime to anyone. What then?

Grim stuff. Horrible. But if you are looking for the ultimate, unselfish gift for your loved ones, having a long term care insurance policy should be at the top of your bucket list.

Consider:

• When you buy life insurance the questions is not if, but when, you will cash out and your beneficiary will cash in. Nobody gets out alive!
• When you purchase long term care insurance you hope it will never be used, never be needed. It is not an investment, it is insurance. You hope and pray, for everyone’s sake, all your premium dollars are wasted. But there is a good chance you will need it, whether you have it or not.

Between now and June 24 federal and postal workers can apply for coverage under the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program. The FLTCIP is open to most federal and postal workers and retirees, and to active and retired members of the military. Also eligible are spouses/same sex domestic partners.

During the open season applicants who might otherwise not qualify for LTC insurance will be benefit from so-called abbreviated underwriting. That means applicants will be asked fewer health questions, increasing the chances that they will be accepted by the group plan.

Currently only about one in 10 eligible federal-postal workers have LTC coverage through the federal program. Many others (one hopes) have individual coverage through plans outside of the government program. Most got their policies when they were younger with fewer medical problems so they got good coverage, at a good premium. Fine, but…

Many people because of their age or health might not be able to qualify for (or afford the premiums if they could) for a stand-alone LTC policy. Those are the very people that should be looking at the federal program during this special, ” target=”_blank”>http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?sid=2331398&nid=15″ target=”_blank”>easier-enrollment period. For more information from the Office of Personnel Management click here.

Chances are you’ve got lots of questions and we hope to have all the answers today on our Your Turn with Mike Causey radio show. The show starts at 10 a.m. (EDT) and the guests are Paul Forte and Beth O’Brien. They are with LTC Partners, the firm that runs the program for the government. They will explain what LTC does and doesn’t do, the coverage, premiums and questions you will be asked during this easy (relatively) enrollment period.

For an up-close-and-personal look at LTC, and advice from an outside expert, click here.

And listen today if you can. And tell a friend.

If you’ve got questions, e-mail them to me at: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

Legislative Update

Also on today’s Your Turn show, regulars Steve Watkins and Steve Losey of the Federal Times will give us a catch up on the latest news from Capitol Hill, the Postal Service and IRS and a look at the role thousands of faceless feds played in tracking down Osama Bin Laden.

Nearly Useless Factoid
by Suzanne Kubota

According to Dictionary.com (via MenatlFloss,) there are 19 words in the English language that have no perfect rhyme. “The words are angst, bulb, cusp, film, gulf, kiln, oblige, opus, orange, pint, plankton, rhythm, silver, yttrium, depth, breadth, width, month and glimpsed.”

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