Long Term Care Insurance is something that we tend to avoid thinking about for a variety of reasons. Issues of aging, especially as they relate to the possibility of failing health capabilities, are not as much fun to think about as, for example,as a plan to sail around the world during retirement so we avoid thinking about it. The reality is that it is as necessary to your future as retirement planning is. Do you own a house or a car? Do you have above poverty level incomne? If you answered yes to any of these questions then it is time to think about Long Term Care Insurance.

Certainly, many people well into retirement seek and buy long term care insurance. But increasingly, individuals and couples in their fifties are purchasing long term care policies, too. These people may be signing the last of the children's tuition checks, andturning their attention to retirement and beyond. Like many people, they may beconcerned about managing their assets, especially if they have not saved as much asthey've wished. The possibility of someday needing long term care, and sufficientmeans to pay for it, may worry them.

There are two primary reasons to consider buying long term care insurance well before retirement. The first is that premiums may be lower at an earlier age. This fact must of course be balanced against the cost of paying those premiums over a longer period of time. Even more importantly, it is prudent to buy long term care insurance before serious health problems make the person uninsurable.

Medicare pays for only approximately 12% of all nursing home costs overall, and only for short-term skilled nursing home stays following hospitalization.Further, Medicaid pays benefits immediately only for people meeting federal poverty guidelines. For other people, the nursing home patient must exhaust his or her savingsto become eligible for Medicaid benefits. Nonetheless, relyingon Medicaid to fund long term care is not an attractive option for people who want to maintain control of their own assets.

Learn more about this author, Carol Hamel.
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