Is Longevity Insurance a Substitute for Long Term Care Insurance?

Most of the news I read about long term care insurance is bad. Insurers as a group did not properly analyze their risk. Consequently, they are imposing huge premium increases on policy holders and/or exiting the business altogether.

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An Important Debate on Buying Long Term Care Insurance

The Wall Street Journal has engaged a number of personal finance experts to debate several topics of importance to the rest of us. One of these recent debates was over the question of whether we should purchase long term care insurance. The expert in favor of purchasing LTC insurance is a professor of health economics and policy at George Mason University.  His argument is that “hoping for the best” is not a wise or effective financial strategy.

The expert that disfavors LTC insurance is a staff attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. His argument is that instead of buying the insurance with a $3500 annual premium, invest the premium amount., giving you $70,000 plus interest in 20 years. There is a huge psychological flaw in that argument.  The average consumer will not have the discipline to actually invest the premiums that are not paid. They are much more likely to spend it. Also, for older boomers, there is no reasonable assurance of  20 years without a long term care need.

Here is the link to full debate article which is definitely worth reading.

Concerns and Misconceptions About Long Term Care

Financial and retirement writers are regularly pumping out articles about long term care insurance. A lot of what is written is negative, such as when an insurance company decides to stop selling long term care policies. For example, my wife and I bought long term care policies from Met Life in 2008.   Met Life later announced that it would stop selling new policies at the end of 2010.

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Long-Term Care Options Change Again

What are your plans for long term care? Is it the “I won’t need it so don’t worry about it plan?” That is not a plan, of course, and if you are leaning in that direction (or just sticking your head in the sand), I encourage you to read why I bought long term care insurance and predicting the costs of long term care. That may jolt you back into a state of reality. (Sorry – someone had to do it!)

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Long Term Care National and Local Cost Trends

Every baby boomer needs to think about long term care needs and costs. The odds are quite high that one of you will need it. Can you afford it? Read more

How Much Long Term Care Insurance Should You Have?

One of the biggest questions in long term care insurance is “How much coverage should we have?” I have researched and thought about long term care coverage and amounts quite a bit in the past year. Read more

The New Public Plan for Affordable Long Term Care Insurance

Baby boomers should be paying close attention to the long term care insurance provisions of the recently passed health reform legislation. The Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act, a/k/a the Class Act, is the first national plan to help working Americans insure themselves for future long-term care. Read more

Annuities with Long Term Care Benefits

A frequent objection to the purchase of long term care insurance is that years of premiums may be wasted if long term care is never needed. Similarly, many prospective retirees are reluctant to invest in an immediate annuity because of a concern that they will die long before receiving a meaningful amount of annuity income. Insurance companies are now introducing products that are designed to address these purchaser concerns. One of the products is called a hybrid annuity with a long term care benefit or rider. Similar products are called long term care annuities. Read more

Predicting the Costs of Long Term Care

Imminent health care reform may include a long term care plan that consumers can buy into. The benefits offered are likely to be helpful but inadequate. How inadequate? You can find out by using an online long term care cost estimator. Read more

Long Term Care Insurance: Key Policy Provisions

Mrs. GoTo and I received our long term care insurance policies last week.  The policy was part of a large portfolio of documents that the agent delivered to me.  I immediately opened up the policy document to review what I consider to be the key provisions.  I thought I would share these with you to give you something to think about when considering purchasing long term care insurance for yourself: Read more

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