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Y's Ways to Fiscal Fitness
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Personal Financial Planning
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 You may think you don’t have to worry about your health.
After all, you’ve had your vaccinations, take your vitamins, fasten your seatbelt, and all the rest. But despite your best precautions, a serious illness or injury could change your life overnight.
While no one can predict what will happen to you or your loved ones in
the years ahead, you can ease the potential financial burden and stress
by preparing to deal with serious sickness or injury in advance.
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MAKING YOUR WISHES KNOWN
One thing you may want to consider is the possibility that, if an
accident or illness left you unable to communicate, you might not
be able to guide your family members and physicians as they make
important decisions about your well-being.
 To
make your wishes known, you can prepare a living will. The
will documents which procedures you would want and which you would
refuse in certain situations. For example, if you were near death,
you might not want the staff to use extraordinary measures to revive
you.
If you’d like to entrust someone specific with the responsibility
of making decisions if you are incapacitated, a health care proxy
lets you name that person.
Each state has its own requirements and forms for living wills
and health care proxies, and your lawyer or health care provider
can probably explain the procedures for drawing them up. Once you’ve
prepared these documents, make sure you give them to the people
who will need them, such as your family, your lawyer, and your doctor.
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PAYING FOR HEALTH CARE
Health care is expensive, and a disability or illness may prevent you
from earning your usual income. Even if you’re not the one who’s
sick, you may need to care for someone else, which could reduce your working
hours and your income. So your financial plan should address how you would
pay for health care and daily living expenses on a lower income. As part of your benefits package, many YMCAs offer insurance to help you cover some of these costs.
For health care costs, you should first examine your current medical
coverage for what’s covered in case of a serious illness. Health
insurance will cover many of your medical expenses, but not all of them.
Every policy has exceptions and conditions. There may be limits to how
much the insurer will pay, or high deductibles before coverage kicks in.
If your condition requires homecare or a stay in a nursing facility,
your ordinary medical insurance will probably not cover all costs. Many
people believe that Medicaid will cover these costs, and that’s true
for certain low-income people. But there are strict limitations to who
qualifies for Medicaid, and they vary from state to state. In short, you
will probably have to deplete your own assets before Medicaid will pick
up the rest.
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LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE
One way to cover some of these costs is by purchasing
long-term care insurance. Long-term care insurance is designed to
cover the costs of homecare or a stay in a nursing facility, which
may follow a serious illness or become important in later life.
However, whether you should buy long-term care insurance is a complex
issue, depending on your finances, your age, your family situation,
and the types of policies available.
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DISABILITY INSURANCE
If your health condition prevents you from working, you'll need a way
to pay the usual bills, as well as any extraordinary health costs. So
consider this: Do you have enough disability insurance?
Disability insurance replaces part of your income while you’re out
of work. The best way to buy disability insurance is usually through an
employer or association, to take advantage of lower group rates. You can
get an individual policy, but the cost will be substantially higher than
a group rate would be.
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