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To better understand the potential impact of Live At Home, consider the stories of Martha and Howard and Pete and Cheryl. Though their stories are fictional, the experiences and benefits described are very real.
Meet Martha & Howard
Martha and Howard are in their mid-70's. To help prepare for their later years the couple purchases a long-term care insurance policy at age 70.
Howard and Martha enjoy their home and want to remain there as long as possible. Unfortunately, the long-term care policy they purchased only pays for assisted living or nursing home care after the first 90 days of confinement. This means one of them will have to leave home for more than three months before their insurance provides any benefits.
 Howard is beginning to show signs of forgetfulness and his children are encouraging him not to drive anymore. Increasingly he depends on Martha for transportation and to remind him to take his medication.
One day Martha falls in the bathroom and is hospitalized with a broken hip. Medicare pays for most of the hospital bill, of course, but for not for the care she needs in the home. Both Martha and Howard need assistance, she with rehabilitation, bathing, preparing meals and cleaning house, and he with medications. For transportation they now rely on family and friends at church.
The home care, which Martha and Howard pay out of pocket, is expensive, and after a few weeks Martha stops it. She and Howard do their the best with the house and cooking, but try as they might, their diets become less healthy and varied. Without regular transportation they become more isolated and less involved with friends and activities at church. Howard's mental decline seems to get faster, and before long his doctor recommends a move to an Alzheimer's facility.
Their long-term care insurance pays the cost of nursing home care, but not the added expense of the special Alzheimer's facility. Martha continues to live at home, bearing the cost of maintaining the house and the added expense of Howard's special care. Without regular cleaning and maintenance, their lovely house declines in value. Ultimately, Martha reaches the point she can no longer live alone and she enters the same nursing home as Howard.
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