Check Workday for info
Long-term care insurance is complex, and many LTC products are on the market. To learn more about the CNA plan, visit Workday. Click on the menu icon to the left of the search button> All About Me> Benefits> External Links> Long Term Care Insurance for full details on the LTC plans and options.

Best-case scenario: You live a long, healthy life, sense when its end is near, say goodbye to your loved ones, and die peacefully in your sleep. If everyone’s last days were like this, there would be no need for long-term care (LTC) insurance.

But because most people’s are not, the university offers an LTC insurance policy through CNA. During a special enrollment period, April 21-May 2, Cornell employees can enroll in CNA’s LTC plan without proof of insurability or the requirement to answer any medical questions. Although employees will be given the opportunity to enroll in CNA’s long-term care plan in the future, in all likelihood this is the last time it will be offered without requiring the disclosure of medical data.

Statistics indicate:

• 70 percent of baby boomers can expect to use some form of long-term care during their lives;
• more than a third of those receiving CNA’s LTC benefits are working adults 65 years old or younger;
• those who are at least 65 years old face a 40 percent chance of entering a nursing home; and
• the average cost for nursing home care in central New York (including Tompkins County) is $284 per day, or about $103,740 per year.

CNA’s LTC insurance is designed specifically to cover costs associated with extended long-term care – at home or in an adult day care center, assisted living facility or nursing home – due to a chronic disease or long-lasting disability. The need for care could be the result of injury from an accident, or it could relate to a chronic illness such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease.

To receive LTC benefits, you must be certified chronically ill by a licensed health care practitioner as being unable to perform at least two Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) – bathing, transferring, dressing, toileting, eating and continence – for a period that is expected to last 90 days, or you must be certified as requiring substantial supervision to protect you from threats to your health and safety due to a severe cognitive impairment. A 90-day waiting period in which you are unable to perform at least two ADLS or are cognitively impaired must expire before you are able to receive any benefits.

Neither Medicare nor health insurance are designed to cover these conditions. Medicare is designed to pay for medically necessary care and focuses on acute care (doctor visits and hospital stays) or short-term services for conditions expected to improve. And while Medicaid will pay for long-term care, only certain low-income individuals and families who fit specific eligibility groups qualify; others typically need to “spend down” their assets before they can go on Medicaid.

The cost for long-term care is based on your age at the time coverage begins and on the level of benefit you choose.

CNA is also contacting currently enrolled employees through a customized mailing that shows their current levels of benefits and gives them the opportunity to increase their daily benefit amount to keep up with the cost of living without having to provide evidence of insurability.