[JoMar]

Have had the experience of two parents whose assets were completely depleted and a mother in law whose assets are rapidly disappearing as a result of health needs in assisted living. My Dad's life ended in a nursing home, mentally fully cognizant of what was going on in his life and the world. Mom was in assisted living when she died with 7K of her assets remaining, mother in law is in assisted living with early dementia. I suspect those that are self insuring have the means to do so and congratulate them on having that large reserve to be able to do that. I also assume that those that are rolling the dice have kids and other family members that will share the burden both financially and emotionally. I also understand the LTC goes up every year as does the cost of the facilities we may all end up living in. It is an individual choice of course, but having seen what assisted living and nursing care can do to a person as they watch everything they worked for disappear I will keep the insurance to help.