Long-Term Care Insurance Calculator

The sweet spot is ages 55-65. Before 55: premium is cheap but you lock in payments for 20-30 years before likely use. After 65: premium climbs steeply and underwriting rejection rates rise sharply (one in five applicants over 65 is declined). At 55 you still have a ~95% approval rate and multi-decade compounding on any inflation rider. Waiting for "when I need it" doesn't work — you can't buy LTC after an Alzheimer's or stroke diagnosis.

Traditional LTC: lower premium, pure insurance, but "use it or lose it" — heirs get nothing if you never claim, and rate hikes have been brutal (many carriers raised premiums 50-90% mid-contract over the past 15 years). Hybrid (life + LTC rider): premium is ~60% higher but lock-in the rate, heirs receive a death benefit if LTC is unused, and single-pay option available. For most households today, hybrid has displaced traditional as the default.

Early (1990s-2000s) LTC was underpriced — carriers underestimated claims frequency (dementia lasts longer than expected), interest rates collapsed (insurers invest reserves in bonds), and lapse rates were near-zero (policyholders don't give up LTC coverage). State insurance commissioners have approved 40-90% cumulative rate hikes on legacy policies. Newer policies and hybrid products price these assumptions in up front, so rate hike risk is materially lower going forward.

Yes if you buy in your 50s-early 60s. A $200/day benefit today, with 3% compound inflation over 30 years, grows to $486/day — roughly matching actual LTC cost inflation (~4.5%/yr historically). Without inflation protection, your $200 benefit against $600+/day nursing home costs in 2055 would leave you self-funding two-thirds of the care. 3% compound is the minimum standard; 5% compound is safer but 30-40% more premium.

National medians (Genworth Cost of Care 2025 projected forward): private nursing home room ~$310/day ($113k/yr), semi-private ~$270/day, assisted living ~$185/day ($67k/yr), home health aide ~$35/hour. Wide geographic variation: Alaska, Connecticut, Massachusetts run 40-60% above median. Costs have grown 3-5% annually for a decade. A 3-year nursing home stay in 2035 will likely exceed $400k.

Traditional policies: lifetime premiums typically equal 2-3 years of actual LTC usage. If you never need care, it's all premium with no benefit (the insurance trade-off). Hybrid policies: break-even earlier because the death benefit returns most of your premium to heirs even unused. Calculator's "break-even days" output shows how many care days it takes for cumulative benefits to exceed lifetime premiums paid.

Medicare: NO for custodial care (the 90%+ of LTC needs that are help with bathing, dressing, eating). It covers only up to 100 days of skilled nursing after a hospital stay. Medicaid: YES but only after you've spent down nearly all assets ($2k cap in most states, with complex lookback rules and estate recovery post-death). LTC insurance is what protects middle-class retirees from being forced to liquidate a $500k-$2M nest egg before qualifying for Medicaid.