LTC while younger

[onebigdummy]

My wife is currently paying for LTC insurance for the both of us via work. I'm 46 and she's 52. It's about $245 a month total. I'm wondering if this is even needed since we are still relatively young.

I have some family history of early stage Alzheimer (mother) in mid 50s

 

[rodi]

LTC insurance when you're younger could cover a few years of nursing home if either of you has a stroke, a debilitating accident, etc. You'd have to weigh the odds of that risk vs the premiums. (Do either of you ride a motorcycle or have some other hobby that might result in traumatic brain injury?)

There's a very recent thread on the topic of LTC insurance here:
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/new-ltc-study-75320.html

 

[Dash man]

I purchased LTC for myself and my DW twelve years ago at age 47, also through work at group rates. Two years later my DW was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She is doing fine now, but she would never qualify for LTC today. Her mother is currently suffering from Alzheimer's, so their is definitely recent family history. I'm glad we purchased young. The rates are still much more reasonable than if we had waited, totaling about $3200/year for both of us for maximum $500,000 coverage each, adjusting for inflation every three years. At this point we could self insure, but since the premium is not a burden, we keep it up so we can pass something on to the kids, since they are struggling a bit and are likely to need it.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[timo2]

LTC also can be used for any disabling episode regardless of your age. Granted it won't last past 3 or five years, but it won't be means tested like the government assistance for disabled people. And younger people could more easily than the elderly stop and restart the LTC to stretch it out. I need to look up more about this.

 

[JoeWras]

There's a whole different thread on LTC which is primarily focusing on late age (80+) LTC usage. Glad you started a new thread.

We have it for younger age. We're in our 50s. We'll let it lapse as we get older.

We've had a few friends run into serious situations with stroke, accident and sadly, a rare form of dementia (not Alzheimers) where it would have helped unburden the family. These folks were all in their 50s and 60s.

Beyond that, we'll self insure.

I agree with folks who want to self insure for late age alzheimers or similar. My dad did and it worked out, but I have to say it was nerve wracking doing the analysis of his assets as they depleted while he was getting alzheimer's aid. But he fell into the typical 5 year or less LTC-facility pattern, which one can self insure for if you start thinking about it well ahead.

 

[samclem]

There's a whole different thread on LTC which is primarily focusing on late age (80+) LTC usage. Glad you started a new thread.

We have it for younger age. We're in our 50s. We'll let it lapse as we get older.

And, here's another case where there's no suitable true insurance product. I'm not aware of anybody that sells "term" LTCI. If, for whatever reason, a customer wants to self-insure for LTC when they get older (e.g. they'll have enough assets for that due to the anticipated growth on investments, an inheritance, a successful career taht will let them put a lot of money into savings, etc), they should be able to buy a policy that covers only the next XX years. It should be considerably cheaper than one that covers old age (when likelihood of needing care is higher).

In your case, your premiums could be a lot lower than what you are paying today, since your premiums are primarily being "banked" for a liability the insurance company expects to occur decades down the road.