Buy LTC Insurance Early, And Save Big On The Costs For This Insurance Coverage

Long term care insurance can be very expensive if you do not plan ahead, but there are ways to cut costs on this policy so that you get savings. The most effective way to do this is to buy your policy at a young age, instead of waiting until you are in your sixties to worry about this coverage. The younger you are when you purchase this policy, the cheaper your premiums will be. Purchasing a long term care insurance policy, also known as a LTCi policy, when you are younger will also give you discounts that may not be available when you are older, such as the good health discount, which can save you up to fifty percent on your rates. By purchasing your policy at an earlier age, you will also get more coverage. If you purchase LTC insurance at age fifty, you will pay around forty five thousand dollars by the time you are seventy five, but if you wait until you are sixty, you will pay around fifty four thousand dollars in premiums by age seventy five, which means buying your policy at fifty years old instead of sixty will save you nine thousand dollars in premiums. This is not an insignificant amount.

The first thing you should do before buying long term care insurance is to evaluate your needs and other income streams. Most retirees get social security benefits, and many people also have private pensions or retirement funds as well. Determine what your financial needs will actually be with all the other sources of income if you become disabled or need care. If you have a private pension which supplies two thousand dollars a month, plus eight hundred dollars in retirement income from social security benefits, your LTC insurance does not have to be as large. If you are a worker close to retirement with no private retirement income, just social security benefits, then you will need a larger coverage amount, which means higher premiums.

One fact that many consumers do not know is that the average nursing home stay is usually between two and three years, yet many long term care insurance policies may offer lifetime benefits, and use this as a reason for higher rates. This is money wasted in most cases, because if care is needed then it is usually not needed for more than four years. This means a four year long term insurance policy is normally more than sufficient to take care of your long term care needs. Another way to get savings on a LTC insurance policy is to become self insured, but this option is very costly to start. The savings to be had definitely make up for the initial cost, because you are not paying any premiums. The premium payment you would make stays in your pocket as savings. This option may also be risky, because if you need care shortly after the care issue is considered, you may not have enough to take care of your needs. The odds of this happening is small, but it may happen.