1.  The Daily or monthly benefit amount which is how much money would you like to have available when you need long term care?  A good idea is to go with the average cost of care in your State or city and don't "over insure" the risk.  A lot of agents I feel mislead the clients into going with the average nursing home cost (the highest number on paper) to artificially increase the premium and of course their commission.  About 80% of all claims are paid for home health care, which most of the time is less than the nursing home cost.  I not saying be cheap and get a bare bones long term care insurance plan, but be smart about it and don't be excessive.  For example, long term care premiums are exponential meaning if a $4000/month benefit plan's annual premium is $2000/yr than a $8000 per month plan's annual premium will be double $4000 per year.

2.  The number of years you'd like you policy to last is another factor that increases the cost.  Remember that around 92% of all long term care insurance claims are for 3 years or less.  Put simply you can insure 92% of the risk for needing long term care by having a three year plan.  A good rule of thumb is if you are on somewhat of a budget take a 3,4 or 5 year plan and that will insure the vast majority of the risk without breaking the bank.  If you have a nice income or are simply wealthy maybe doing an unlimited or life time long term care insurance plan might make sense.  What ever the case is, be smart about designing your plan because this will effect the cost.

3. The elimination period or deductible is another factor that effects the cost of a long term care insurance premium.  Typically you can choose from a 0, 20, 30, 60, 90 day period that either you or medicare will have to pay before you long term care insurance benefits will kick in.  My favorite combination is 90 days because it keeps your premiums down but add a Waiver of Elimination Period For Home Health Care rider to your plan and you can receive your home health care benefits from day 1.  If you think about it, it's rare for someone to immediately go into a nursing home or assisted living...they usually start out needing long term care insurance at home and then progress to a facility.  Do yourself a favor and get a higher deductible;e for facility care and save some money.

4. Inflation protection is the most important benefit in you long term care insurance plan so choose wisely.  You can typically choose from None, 5% Simple or Equal, or 5% Compound inflation protection.  The None option is for people 78 + where inflation probably won't be a concern.  The vast majority of our long term care insurance clients today are the Baby Boomers.  They are typically in their 50's and literally might not use their policy for 30 years.  They have got to have a 5% Compound engine growing their benefits or their future purchasing power will be eroded to nothing when the need it.

If you feel like you might be ready for your own long term care insurance quotes simply fill out the forms below.  LTCtree.com works with all the brand name companies and will send you the top 4-6 carriers so you can do your own apples to apples comparison.  If you're not ready take you time and don't let agents pressure you because the insurance will still be there tomorrow.  Either way we appreciate you visiting our site and taking the time to read our long term care insurance blog.