I am Jim Chaillet. I am a husband, father, family physician and, recently, a licensed insurance agent and specialist in long term care insurance.

What is Long Term Care? In general, it is care or assistance that individuals require, as a result of medical or mental health conditions, such as a stroke or severe depression, to help them get through the day. They can receive this care in their home, an assisted living facility, a nursing home or other settings. More on this in the about Long Term Care section. 

I developed an interest in long term care and its ramifications as a result of several events. First, in helping to care for my in-laws, both of whole suffered from different types of dementia, I saw and felt the effects of trying to care for relatives, with debilitating conditions, first in the home and then, in the nursing home. My wife and I took care of both of them for about a year in our home, and, when, it became too difficult for us to care for them, we made a difficult but hardly unique decision. My mother-in-law went into a nursing home near us and where for a time I took care of her as her physician.  My father-in-law returned home, some thousand miles away to live with his other daughter. He stayed at home until he died of complications of Alzheimer’s Disease after 4 years. My sister-in-law had to quit one job and worked only part time to care for him.  Neither in-law had long term care insurance so both were dependent ultimately on Medicare and Medicaid to provide for and pay for their care.

Second, as a family physician, I dealt with many of the conditions which, suddenly or over time lead to the need for long term care.  I also had to deal with the effects of providing, coordinating or managing their long term care needs on family members.  These people, typically, the daughter or daughter-in-law had to deal with the care of their elderly  relatives, taking them the doctor’s office, going to the nursing home AND, doing all of this, while having to care for their own children and usually, holding down a job. Sometimes, they would quit the job, which added financial stress to an already stressful situation. A common outcome in my experience was the development of or worsening of headaches, including severe and recurrent migraines.

Third, as a physician and a manager in the health insurance business for 14 years plus, I began to learn about the importance of insurance, It is not a panacea for pain and suffering and social ills; but, it can help  people obtain  the care and help they need to address the problem. I came to see that long term care insurance can do the same for long term care needs and more. For example, it could allow a person, with a disability, to receive care at home, in more familiar, comfortable and dignified surrounding and, possibly as a result, improve to the point of not needing as much care.

Ultimately, I came to the realization, from my personal and professional experiences, that long term care insurance can remove barriers to compassionate and effective care of long term care conditions and make things a whole lot better for families and friends.