Long Term Care Insurance

Am I Prepared for Long-Term-Care Expenses?

The vast majority of Americans are not sufficiently prepared to face long-term care. They go through their lives reassuring themselves that they will probably never need it.

Unfortunately, that's simply not the case. A study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicates that people aged 65 face a 43 percent lifetime risk of entering a nursing home. About 21 percent may stay there five years or longer.1 And the average cost of this care is $69,400 per year.²

Also, the odds that you will need some kind of long-term care increase as you get older.

Long-Term-Care Insurance

A long-term-care insurance policy enables you to transfer a portion of the economic liability of long-term care to an insurance company in exchange for regular premiums.

Long-term-care insurance can pay for skilled, intermediate, and custodial nursing care. Some policies even pay for home health care. It can help protect your family from the potentially devastating cost of a long-term disability or chronic illness.

Sources:
1-2. 2006 Field Guide, The National Underwriter Company, 2006

© 2007 Emerald Publications