About CareMatters

Nationwide CareMatters is long-term care coverage that is linked to a fixed-premium universal life insurance policy and includes a death benefit. Even if you use every dollar of the money earmarked for long-term health care costs, your beneficiary will still receive a 20% minimum death benefit — guaranteed.

Long-term care coverage can provide you and your family members with a source of funds to pay for the services you might need. With the national cost of care at over $108,000 per year and rising, a few years of care can be catastrophic for many families.

With long-term care coverage, you may also be able to pay friends or family members for the informal care they might provide or for home-based services. This can help you stay in a home-based setting longer.

Nationwide’s Cash Indemnity LTC Benefit

The CareMatters cash indemnity benefit works like this:

• A monthly cash benefit is paid to the policyowner each month. Any money left over can be spent on other expenses or even saved for future use. Meanwhile, with reimbursement policies, only qualifying expenses are reimbursed; nothing extra is paid.
• Nationwide places no restrictions on how you use your long-term care benefits. This allows you to pay an informal caregiver, such as a family member, friend or neighbor.
• You do not need to submit monthly bills and receipts
• The policy can be owned by an irrevocable life insurance trust

Indemnity vs Reimbursement LTC Plans

Most other linked benefit long-term care policies provide reimbursement benefits. When paid as a reimbursement, bills and receipts must be submitted to the insurance carrier for approval. The insurance company then reviews the claim and reimburses the exact amount of approved expenses up to the amount of the monthly benefit. Ask yourself these questions when considering a reimbursement long-term care plan:

1. What happens if I have high home health care costs on a particular day(s) and it exceeds the policy’s daily maximum?
2. What happens if I want my family member to be my caregiver?
3. Are certain types of LTC facilities or medical equipment excluded?
4. What if I need to make significant home modifications so I can stay home as long as possible. Are there limits on how much the policy will pay for these modifications?
5. Are there geographic limitations?

Guaranteed Level & Return of Premiums

With Nationwide’s CareMatters, premiums are guaranteed to never increase. This removes any concerns about rising LTC premium costs. And there’s an extra level of comfort in knowing that your premiums will be returned in one of the following ways:

• Long-term care benefits
• A death benefit
• A combination of LTC Benefits and death benefit
• Return of premiums

Nationwide Insurance Company

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company is one of the largest insurance and financial service companies in the world. Founded in 1925, they offer a wide array of insurance products including this hybrid life insurance with long-term care.

Financial Ratings:  A.M. Best: A+,  Moody’s: A1,  Standard & Poor’s: A+