It is always good to be able to follow a calling and that is what Christine Schuster Khemis has done in her career. The life-long lover of learning and education has been able to use her interests and skills as she helps clients learn about long term care insurance.
“I have to say that there has never been a better time to be a long term care specialist,” Khemis said. “In the last 18 months, Americans have come face-to-face with the need to become more diversified financially and to manage their risk more efficiently.”
Part of Khemis’ job is to make sure that people realize that long term care is almost never covered by health insurance or Medicare and that Medicaid only kicks in when people have been reduced to the state’s poverty level. A serious illness or injury can literally leave families destitute.
“A recent Harvard University study concluded that the number one cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. is not the mortgage melt down but health care expenses not covered by private insurance or Medicare,” Khemis said.
According to Khemis, the national average rate for a nursing home room is $212 a day or $77,380 a year. While the perception is that the residents are all elderly people, the reality is that 40 percent of the people in long term care facilities are working-age adults between the ages of 18 and 64. It only takes one accident or serious illness to change a life, or a whole family, forever.
Khemis shares these facts with clients and helps them to explore their long term care insurance options. She does this as a long term care insurance specialist and Partner with LTC Financial Partners, a national agency of long term care professionals. She is proud of her company’s emphasis on education and outreach and the fact that company agents are compensated the same regardless of the products selected by the clients.
“It frees us, as consultants, to be able to recommend the products that will best serve the individual client,” Khemis said.
The company also offered her an opportunity to co-author a book called, “Dignity for Life—Five Things You Should Know Before Considering Long Term Care Insurance.” The book was not funded by a specific insurer and so offers a non-biased view of the facts about long term care insurance. Although it can be purchased on Amazon.com, Khemis gives free copies to people who contact her.
But Khemis wasn’t always a long term care specialist. She was the first woman to graduate from Central Washington University with honors from the psychology department. Then, following in the footsteps of her school teacher mother, Khemis worked as an educator and counselor in Seattle Public Schools.
“When they went on strike I needed to continue working and I was happy to be recruited into the insurance business,” Khemis said.
She was no stranger to the insurance business. Her Texas-born father came from a long line of insurance industry professionals. Insurance proved to be a very comfortable fit. But about that time she met her husband-to-be who was in the medical device industry. Another career change set Khemis as president of that medical device firm.
“Then, like so many of my colleagues that specialize in long term care, I had a personal experience,” Khemis said. “My beloved grandmother, an indomitable force, fell after one of her morning walks and never recovered. She began a long slow decline.”
Khemis’ grandmother was adamant that she did not want to be institutionalized during this terrible period. Luckily, Khemis’ father had the resources to make sure that those wishes were granted. But the incident really brought to light how something so little, like a single fall, could change someone’s life forever and take away their independence.
Had the grandmother had to rely on her own resources, she might have been forced to live her final days in a Medicaid nursing home. According to Khemis, the larger percentages of people in nursing homes are women and most of those women are on Medicaid. Part of this is because women statistically outlive men by about seven years.
“Medicaid only pays for nursing home care so that means that women get uprooted prematurely from their own homes and neighborhoods,” Khemis said.
As a long term care specialist, Khemis is able to share her grandmother’s story with others and make sure that they have the information that her grandmother did not have.
“So I guess I came full circle — started off as an educator and still an educator,” Khemis said.
She also educates other professionals, providing continuing education credits on the subject of long term care to lawyers, CPAs, real estate agents, insurance agents and financial advisors. Khemis also testified before the legislature in Olympia on the subject.
A large part of Khemis’ work week is spent meeting with business owners about the tax advantages of offering long term care insurance. Sometimes she meets with individual clients and other times, more sobering, she assists clients as they move through the claims process.
“To be able to come to someone’s aid when they need it the most is a humbling calling but it’s a privilege to be able to serve,” she said.
She also serves by being a part of the Board of Governors for the Master Builder’s Association and the Board of Trustees for Annie Wright school in Tacoma.
When it’s time to relax Khemis loves to ski and is learning to garden. But her real love is learning. She even picked up her MBA last year.
“I’m a big believer in life long learning. We have lots of studies that show that continuing to learn new things is good for our brain and good for our health,” Khemis said. “It also can be good for our pocketbook.”
More information about Khemis, her credentials and services and contact information to request a free copy of her book, is on her Web site, www.ChristineLTC.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
