Its all about having options.  A group of Genworth Financial Senior Benefit Analysts gathered to confer on approaches taken to help those needing care.  The range of options they discussed went far beyond processing invoices and making payments.  They made a difference by divising creative ways to help improve care for policyholders and offer solutions that help caregivers cope.

Here are some examples cited:

• A college student had a sick father at home.  She planned to cut back on her courses to reduce family expenses and was looking for a job to raise extra money to help her family.  Her father was insistent that no one else care for him but her. 
  
  The daughter became an employee of a home healthcare service and was assigned to care for him.  While family members are typically excluded from being reimbursed, there are certain situations where they are eligible to become paid providers.  In this case, long term care insurance allowed a family to help make the most of a difficult situation.  And since the job provided flexible hours, she could continue taking her normal course load at college.

• A man with Alzheimer's was insistent that he live at home under his wife's care.  But the Senior Benefit Analyst suggested he try going to adult daycare three days a week, and he accepted.  The daycare was covered under their long term care insurance policy, giving him access to additional services and giving his wife a respite to enjoy time with her friends.
  
• A wife wanted to care for her husband at home but couldn't continue doing all the chores of running the household.  The husband's plan of care provided for homemaking service to provide help for cooking and cleaning, which allowed the wife not only to focus on caring for her husband but also to spread the burden of completing the chores.
  
• A man caring for his wife wasn't familiar with how to do those household chores and developed anxiety about having to try.  Even though he was physically capable of performing the chores, a homemaking service was approved, helping him give his wife the best care he could.
  
• A couple living in an assisted living facility wanted to return to their home to be with their disabled daughter.  With home care, they gave it a try.  It lasted only about six weeks until one of them required a higher level of care at a facility again, but they had the option of trying.