Our financial advisor has indicated we should buy Long-Term Care insurance (i.e., nursing home/assisted living care) while we're still young enough to be able to afford the rates. He said the need for long-term care is the biggest threat to our wealth.

I am 56, and plan to work until I am 67. My wife turns 59 next week and is already retired.

The financial advisor can obtain quotes for us, but he also suggested we research it on our own if we wished.

I do not even know who the reputable providers are for long-term care insurance. Do any of you have any recommendations for insurers I should contact for quotes?

you want to pay people that you don't know , money, to give money back to you , but they won't give you their home phone number or home address ?

what ids their track record?
can they provide you with the names of a hundred people that have actually been "taken care of " long term?

at minimum of $6,500.00 per month for very minimal care in assisted living these days ,
they will have to charge you $5,900.00 per month premium . to maybe just break even.( if they are extremely lucky)

I wonder if they call it "long Term " is because you should have been paying for it since you were 22 years old?

I don't have any suggestions other than to say LTC insurance is probably wise. I had a legally blind uncle who was single, with no kids, and thanks in part to long term care insurance, he was able to get the care he needed and indeed bless the rest of us in the family with nice inheritance checks when he passed away.

You should buy it earlier. I used to sell it. All of the insurers got killed on lifetime benefits and most dropped those benefits or made premiums unaffordable. Check that benefits are dollar value with inflation. Otherwise when you need it it will be worth half is much. If the benefits are days used vs dollars used you can burn up benefits while receiving in home inexpensive care and whe you need to live in assisted care you may have used half your days but only received a quarter of dollars. Find out what ADLs trigger benefits.

Too far removed from market to suggest companies, don't go below A+ rated companies.

I have no intention of further enriching the insurance companies.

Consumer Reports suggested waiting until age 65 to purchase and then made several recommendations: http://www.consumerreports.org...-insurance/index.htm

I've seen it in action with my MIL. It can certainly be worth it. You will likely have to pass some sort of medical 'exam' which maybe nothing more than a questionnaire. I have an Allianz policy that was handled by my wealth manager. Medicare will pay for some things, but certainly not all, generally you have to move into assisted/nusrsing care directly from a hospital visit for Medicare to be effective. My MIL got roughly 80% of her assisted living costs covered by her policy. That can be significant.

Not sure what the specific details are but LTC insurance has been in a worsening crisis mode for several years now. Funding crisis, of course. One of the largest players, John Hancock, simply decided to bail out of the market completely (I was an LTC agent for Hancock for about a week several moons ago). They will continue to service existing policies, though, making me wonder if now's the time to get it while the getting's good (it's easier to drop it if you have it than get it when it's not being sold). Don't mean to put the old hard sell on you, so read the article for yourself.

John Hancock Withdrawing From Long-Term Care Market

LTC insurance is very expensive. We have policies purchased in our mid 40's. It was very affordable back then. Now, 15 years later, we've seen our premiums increased three times to maintain the same level of coverage.

It's worth having, but expect to pay a lot of money for it. And the newer policies have cut way back on the benefits available.

We will get to a point where we can't afford to maintain the policies if the rate increases keep coming

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Originally posted by 2Adefender:We will get to a point where we can't afford to maintain the policies if the rate increases keep coming

That's exactly what the insurance company is counting on.

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Originally posted by 2Adefender:


It's worth having, but expect to pay a lot of money for it. And the newer policies have cut way back on the benefits available.

We will get to a point where we can't afford to maintain the policies if the rate increases keep coming

So what happened to all the money put into over a bunch of years?

I got a LTC policy with Banker's Life some years ago--premiums are about $300/month and will cover me in a nursing home for 3 years. Most people don't last much longer than that in a nursing home (not a retirement home), so it's probably satisfactory. (I'm 79.)

flashguy

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Originally posted by flashguy:
I got a LTC policy with Banker's Life some years ago--premiums are about $300/month and will cover me in a nursing home for 3 years.

Do they specify a monthly benefit? There certainly is a wide range of costs depending on the facility.

We went through Northwestern Mutual recently to obtain LTC insurance. I witnessed first hand a family member who worked his whole life and didn't have LTC when he needed it at 45 years old, and basically lost everything. It placed a huge burden on his wife and he eventually lost her too. It's worth the cost IMO.

We got LTC policies for my wife and myself a number of years ago. Cost is a little under $3,000 for both of us per year. Allianz is the insurer. Based on the Consumer Reports article cited, sounds best to keep it; but buying now is more iffy.

I have a gun and one bullet.

LTC insurance can be a real bonus if you or a family member is covered. Nursing facilities are very, very expensive and the quality of care decreases as the monthly fee goes down. The down side LTC generally only covers up to 3 years.

I did not have LTC for my wife but I was exceedingly lucky that the facility she was in accepted her SS and Medicaid for payment. It was not the greatest place but I kept a good eye on her while she was there which may have helped with the level of care she received. Medicare will cover the first 99 days after that it is LTC insurance, Medicaid or self pay.

My wife and I have had long-term Care policies through Northwestern Mutual Life for about seven years now. Yes, it's a bit expensive, but if anything happens to us like what my father went through (Alzheimer's, in care for six years), it will be worth it.

This just me now but how many more years I have left is just not that important. 10 years? 20 years? Doesn't matter. What does matter to me is the quality of my life.

This very topic came up last winter as me, the wife and my 30 year old daughter were having a fireside chat. The daughter was getting pissed as we talked, telling us not to waste our money like that. She announced that "..either one of you or both of you will have your sorry asses living with me". I just laughed as I admired her spunk, but I knew better. Later, I asked her if she knew how important the quality of my life was to me and she simply said to not worry about as she felt exactly the same way.

So hell, I'm not worrying about it.

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Originally posted by old rugged cross:

quote:

Originally posted by 2Adefender:


It's worth having, but expect to pay a lot of money for it. And the newer policies have cut way back on the benefits available.

We will get to a point where we can't afford to maintain the policies if the rate increases keep coming

So what happened to all the money put into over a bunch of years?

You pay for the insurance coverage each quarter or year. If you cancel the policy, the money you paid for coverage in the past is gone. You don't get it back. It's not a savings account.