Long-Term Care Insurance
What Medicare doesn't cover
This is the gap that catches most people off guard: Medicare does not cover long-term care. It covers medical treatment, but not the help you need with daily activities like bathing, dressing, eating, or getting around — whether at home or in a facility.
- • Short-term skilled nursing (up to 100 days after a hospital stay)
- • Home health care (skilled nursing, therapy — not personal care)
- • Hospice care for terminal illness
- • Long-term nursing home stays
- • Assisted living facilities
- • In-home help with bathing, dressing, meals
- • Adult day care programs
Key distinction: Medicare covers "skilled" care (medical treatment by nurses and therapists) but not "custodial" care (help with daily activities). Most long-term care is custodial.
The real costs of long-term care
Long-term care is expensive, and costs vary significantly by location and type of care. These are national median costs — in some areas, costs are much higher.
$5,700/mo
Home health aide, ~44 hours/week
$4,800/mo
Private one-bedroom unit
$9,000+/mo
Semi-private room; private rooms are higher
The math is sobering: The average nursing home stay is 2.5 years. At $9,000/month, that's $270,000. About 70% of people turning 65 will need some form of long-term care.
Want to talk about long-term care planning?
Long-term care planning is complex and very personal. We can help you understand your options and what makes sense for your situation.
Mon–Fri 8am–8pm ET • Sat 10am–6pm ET
Your options for covering long-term care
You pay premiums; if you need long-term care, the policy pays a daily or monthly benefit. Premiums increase with age — buying younger locks in lower rates. Typical cost at 65: $2,000–4,000/year.
Combines life insurance with long-term care benefits. If you need LTC, the policy pays for it. If you don't, your beneficiaries get a death benefit. Eliminates the "use it or lose it" concern.
If you have significant savings, you might plan to pay for care yourself. This requires substantial assets — most financial planners suggest $300,000–500,000+ set aside for this purpose.
Medicaid covers long-term care, but only after you've spent down most of your assets. This is essentially impoverishment — you must have very limited income and assets to qualify.
When to buy: LTC insurance gets more expensive and harder to qualify for as you age. Many advisors suggest considering it in your mid-50s to early 60s — before health issues make you uninsurable.