Many LTC plans provide for in-home assistance (non-medical - bathing, feeding, etc.) and care (nursing / medical), so don't assume having LTC means going into a care facility if that is not what you want.
After having seen numerous relatives on my mother's side go through long term care facilities I want no part of them.
In comparisons of LTC v go-bare, it is often overlooked that benefit limits -- even with COLA -- may well leave you with a significant cash flow burden even after the policy pays. This is hard to assess in advance, but the per diem benefits may well fall short. So it's not a pure "all or nothing" comparison in the end.
Obviously you are better off with those benefits than without, but in making a decision about whether to buy, don't assume that if you do you are out of the woods as far as out-of-pocket costs in the event LTC is needed.
Just to make the decision a little more complicated...
Exactly. They ultimate weapon is major reduction in expenses by the healthy one and dipping into funds ahead of schedule, knowing the 3-year odds of survival once admitted to a nursing home. You can only hope to recapture some of those withdrawals through a lower-expense revamp of your FIRE plan.Yup, I've heard this is the case. Health and LTC insurance issues worry us a lot. Just seems like a no-win situation. If the policy did keep up with the rapidly rising costs of LTC, the premiums would likely be higher. Pay more now, or worry your policy may not cover everything if you end up needing it?
They ultimate weapon is major reduction in expenses by the healthy one and dipping into funds ahead of schedule, knowing the 3-year odds of survival once admitted to a nursing home.
Yes, that's my plan.So live well, enjoy your health and retirement and you'll find a way to deal with it at the time. At least that's what I tell myself when it comes up.
Here's a link to a site that includes a state by state map of costs (I believe these were average costs in 2009):Sorry if I missed this, but can someone point me to statistics for care costs by state? Also, any thoughts on what kind of inflation we might see for those costs?