You have a very interesting blog.

A few quick comments:

I certainly would not spend good money on an insurance policy that only paid for nursing home care. That’s the last place anybody wants to be.

Fortunately, today, the majority of long term care insurance policies will pay benefits for care that is received at home, as well as for care that’s received in a facility. In fact, most long term care today is provided at home. There’s only about 1.5 million nursing home residents today, but well over 7 million people at home who currently need some type of assistance with Activities of Daily Living (bathing, dressing, etc…).

Most people who are in nursing homes are there because they don’t have long term care insurance and they have spent down their savings and have to rely on the state to pay for their care through Medicaid.

Using a handy dandy financial calculator that I found on google, I figured out that if I invested $3,000 per year over 30 years, (assuming an after tax return of 8%) (which is pretty darn high), I’d have $367,000 after 30 years. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the cost for one year of long term care (either in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or at home) is projected to cost about $350,000 per year in 30 years (and that’s in the cheaper parts of the US, like Georgia.)

Three years of care (which is the average) is projected to cost well over a million bucks. OUCH!

But, to be frank, I would never buy an insurance policy to protect me from a risk that I may face 30 years from now.

The real risk is what if I need care 5 years from now? or 10? How will that affect my wife and all of our financial plans?

I met a man in NJ who had a massive stroke in his mid-50’s. He lost most of his memory and was completely paralyzed on one side.

His wife and sons visited him everyday. He was in a beautiful facility with a very caring staff. It’s sad enough that his wife has essentially lost the love of her life. No more dancing, no more traveling, no more romantic getaways. Her life completely changed in a moment and she essentially lost the love of her life, in a flash. Although the emotional burden on her is immense, the financial burden makes it unbearable. She’s having to pay close to $100,000 per year out of their retirement savings for his care. It is having a huge impact on her financial future.

The emotional burden is tough enough.
The financial burden makes it even worse.

I think that one of the most loving things spouses can do for each other is protect against this risk.

I’ll get off my soap box now…. but I hope your readers think about what I’ve written.

Scott A. Olson, CLTC
http://www.LTCInsuranceShopper.com