Long Term Care Insurance?
 

What are your thoughts about Long Term Care insurance? My husband and I are looking into this, but as we are in our 50's, it is pricey.

I don't think long term care insurance is worth buying, especially if you can afford to pay for assisted living and/or home care out of pocket. You can also use it for nursing home care, but most people living in nursing homes are paying nothing because they are on Medicaid. Everyone can get Medicaid when they run out of money. Another thing I don't like about long term care insurance is that the insurance company will decide if and when you need to collect benefits. I think that should be determined by a neutral party. A better way to go is to save money for long term care and shop around for the best deal and pay for it yourself. I know others will disagree.

I'm with 123...........not a fan of LTC Insurance.


Search this site, it's been discussed a number of times.


An old thread: "Long Term Care Insurance - Opinions Wanted

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In this thread, I posted:

There are a lot of studies out there................If you have less than $250k in assets, don't buy. And if you have over $1.5mil, don't buy. But if you are in the middle, should consider.

I agree with above 2 posts. LTC costs will escalate as you age. Almost all LTC insurance does not have a fixed for life price.

I got hit with a 90% hike in premiums. The carriers realize that they misjudged how much they will be paying out. The number of carriers is shrinking also.

I had a long discussion with a Genworth representative, and decided to keep a shorter payout coverage that was offered. It was still higher than my original premium.

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LT Care Insurance is way too expensive for me - I'll take my chances and hope I never need it. GE sold a long term care insurance policy for years, and they were so inept that they under priced it and in 2018 took a 6.1 Billion Dollar charge for their ineptitude. I should have bought one of those underpriced policies, I guess.

It's like any insurance - it's way too expensive until you actually need it; then it's a wise investment to have made. Every financial adviser my wife or I have worked with have strongly recommended it even though they and their companies did not sell it.

When working with a financial advisor, planner, or insurance agent, I think it is always a good idea to ask the advisor if they personally own the product they are recommending.

I agree. If the financial planner sells insurance products, they will definitely push other insurance products. Even if they don’t get the business they may well advocate for more insurance. It’s seems like people in the business help other people in the business.

Actually, it's more like an Annuity (that MIGHT pay out) vs. "like any insurance".


JMO

We looked into it about 7 years ago. I did some future value calculations and came to the conclusion we were better off self-insuring. Of course, your mileage may vary. One of the selling points was that it could potentially protect some assets that you wish to pass down to your heirs. This was not an issue for us. We passed.

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.

OP, talk to your financial advisor to see what is available. We bought a policy back up North, and as I recall, we get back the premiums IF WE DO NOT USE IT, we get assets shielded as mentioned above, but I am in the process of confirming my back up North policy will satisfy the Florida requirements. At the time we wanted to be able to pass along some assets to surviving spouse, however, we are also reevaluating this policy in light of costs, current conditions, etc. All these situations are different and what is suitable for one person make make no sense for another person.

Not sure about getting the premiums back. I believe that a rate increase will give you the option of canceling and premiums paid can then be used to offset the facility costs. Remember. If you paid $30,000 in premiums that's only half a year coverage.


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For those of you still working, IMO the best time to get LTC is through a company supported plan to get a group rate. Despite all the bad publicity, we got LTC while working. I think we've had it 7-10 years. I've had only ONE increase in that time, to the tune of 5 or 8 dollars / month. Like homeowners and health insurance, I hope neither of us ever use it. I am not trying to get my money back .. it;s whats known as a hedge.. in no way do i consider it in any form an annuity .. its Insurance. Based on what my father paid in an assisted living facility when he could not perform many ADLs (Activities for Daily Living - look them up), my total premiums paid to date for both of us would equate to 4 or 5 months in a facility. I'm willing to pay the premiums to hedge that cost. a personal financial decision everyone has to make