Long-Term Care Insurance
This is one area that is often overlooked. However, it is an extremely important one. In the past, some Dioceses had considered letting the priests go on Medicaid so as not to bankrupt the Diocese. However, due to recent changes in the laws, this strategy probably will not work. With the cost of nursing home stays and home health care rising to astronomical levels, these unbudgeted expenses can adversely impact the Diocese's finances.
We have been successful using long term care insurance policies to cover home health care costs and/or nursing home costs of some of our religious clients. Instead of a large, unbudgeted expense, they are paying a small ongoing expense for protection against these risks.
We realize this doesn't sound very compelling. A real-life example that happened to a client of ours, a small religious order, is that one of their 16 members had a stroke and needed skilled nursing care. The cost of this care was approximately $5,000 per month in a very small Southern town. After being stunned by this $60,000 annual expense, we insured the other 15 members for an annual premium of approximately $7,000.