How much does long term care insurance cost?

This is the most popular questions we get at LTC Tree and the answer has several components.  Long term care insurance premiums are factored on the person’s age, health, the amount of coverage, and the company that actually issues the policy to the client.  Some companies favor certain age groups over the other; also some companies will have better pricing structure on certain riders and benefit periods.  With all these moving parts it’s important to shop around with at least 5 carriers to ensure you get the best deal.
The second most popular question we get from consumers is what if I wait to buy long term care insurance?  I hear a lot of popular financial gurus in magazines, on TV, and on the radio who say it’s best to wait until around age 60.  If you can afford the premiums then they are flat out wrong by saying wait.  They offer this advice without doing their home work and are not factoring two key variables. 

1. The first variable not considered with these “gurus” is the fact that these long term care insurance companies raise the price structure (new products) every 18 months by around 10%. If you just wait just 5 years to buy you will have gone through 2-3 generations of product price increases and will be paying 20-30% more.
2.  If you are buying in your 40’s and 50’s you’ll be buying long term care insurance with the 5% compound inflation protection.  Say for example the person buys $150/day in benefits which increase 5% per year.  In five years your benefits will have grown to about $190/day.  If you were to wait and buy long term care insurance you will have to buy not $150/day, but $190/day.  Having to buy this much more coverage alone will increase your cost 26%. 
   

Once you know these key factors and simply do the math you will end up paying substantially more in the long run because of these two key variables alone even after not paying premiums in that 5 year period you waited.  Not to mention you’ll be five years older and also might not be as healthy as you were 5 years before.  If you like to see some hard numbers so you can judge for yourself simply fill in the form below and we’ll mail you your quotes.