Long-term care

Medicare doesn’t cover this. Most people find that out too late.

Roughly seven in ten people turning 65 will need some long-term care — help with bathing, dressing, eating, getting around. Medicare pays for limited skilled nursing after a hospital stay and then stops. It does not pay for that.

So who does pay

Four things, and that’s the whole list.

MedicaidAfter you have spent down to almost nothing. A safety net, not a plan, and it rarely lets you choose where you receive care.

Your familyUsually a spouse or a daughter, unpaid, often cutting hours or leaving work. The most common answer in America and the one nobody writes down. Ask whether the person you have in mind knows they are the plan.

Your savingsA legitimate strategy if there is enough of it. The risk is that care runs far longer than expected and takes what was meant for a spouse.

InsuranceWhich is the rest of this page, and it is a shorter subject than the industry makes it sound.

The options

Three ways to insure against it.

I place this

Living benefit riders

§101(g)

A rider on a life insurance policy that lets you accelerate part of the death benefit early if a doctor certifies you as chronically or terminally ill. Many carriers now build these in at little or no additional premium.

The catch: It is not long-term care insurance, and it should never be sold to you as though it were

I don’t write this yet

Hybrid life + LTC

§7702B

A life insurance policy with a qualified long-term care rider attached — often called asset-based or linked-benefit. If you need care it pays for care. If you never need it, your family still receives a death benefit.

The catch: The premium is substantial, and it is usually a large single payment or a short pay period

I don’t write this yet

Standalone LTC insurance

Health line

A traditional policy that does one job: it pays for long-term care. It buys the largest pool of care benefit per premium dollar of any option here, and that is the entire argument for it.

The catch: Use it or lose it — if you never need care, the premiums are gone

One distinction worth more than the rest of this page. A living benefit rider is not long-term care insurance. It lets you take part of your own death benefit early — every dollar you use is a dollar your family does not get later. Long-term care insurance is a separate pool that pays for care in addition to what you already own. Both are useful; they are not substitutes. If anyone has told you your policy “has long-term care built in,” that is the question to ask them.

I write one of these three, and I’ll say which.

Living benefit riders I can write today, and on a policy you were buying anyway they often cost little or nothing extra. Hybrid and standalone long-term care need a separate state certification that I don’t hold yet, so I won’t quote them.

Call anyway. If what you need is one of the two I can’t write, I’ll tell you that plainly and point you to somebody who does.

Call (726) 999-0727 Email me

Important disclosures

General information about long-term care and the products used to insure against it. Not an offer of coverage, a quote, a recommendation of any specific policy, or tax or legal advice. Benefit triggers, elimination periods, benefit amounts, exclusions and premiums vary by product, carrier and state, and all coverage is subject to underwriting and carrier approval. The terms of any policy are governed solely by the policy as issued.

The figure that roughly seven in ten people turning 65 will need some long-term care services is published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It describes a population, not you.

Hybrid life and long-term care policies and standalone long-term care insurance are described here for information only. They are not offered or solicited through this website and no application for them will be accepted.

Accelerating a death benefit under a chronic or terminal illness rider reduces, and may eliminate, the death benefit otherwise payable to beneficiaries, and may affect eligibility for public assistance programs. Benefits may be taxable in some circumstances. Guarantees are backed by the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Not connected with or endorsed by the U.S. government or any government agency.