A recent article in the Seattle Times of Seattle, WA touches on some LTC hot points. 

Q: I am 60 years old. My financial adviser is strongly urging me to buy long-term-care insurance (before September, when Genworth is raising its rates).

My mortgage is paid off (home value: $325,000). My investments and retirement portfolio stand at $350,000. My income is $35,000 with minimal liquid cash. I plan to work indeterminately and am healthy, though I will need to buy health insurance upon "retirement."

The writer goes on to lament that insurance companies and financial advisors "naturally want you to buy this product; others advise selling your home at the crucial point."  While this is true, we prefer to be objective here at LTCtree - we do not make a business out of soliciting unless our clients are interested.

The columnist in Seattle replys to the writer and mentions some very important benefits of having Long Term Care Insurance.

A: The best candidates for long-term-care insurance (LTC) are single women like you. You are likely to live long enough to need long-term care. More important, you don't appear to have alternatives to institutional care — such as a daughter who lives less than an hour away.

This is the dilemma millions of women face as they age. So I think you are a good candidate for this insurance, despite doubts I have expressed about LTC insurance in the past.

Another way to think about LTC insurance is to consider it as "portfolio insurance" on your net worth.

With your net worth of $675,000, a policy that cost $2,500 a year would cost about 0.37 percent of your net worth a year. It would provide you with some assurance that you won't go broke, and even a three-year coverage period would allow plenty of time for an orderly liquidation of assets in the event you needed more than three years of care.

Preserving assets, of course, is important only if you want to leave some money to children or charity.

I just wanted to share this article.  Here at LTCtree we want to provide resources to those looking for objectivity - something hard to find.  That's why we link to and mention articles like this one from The Seattle Times.  If you are a single woman, whether in Seattle or Miami, consider at least getting quotes.