Plan Today for Tomorrow’s Care Needs
Long-term care planning can help protect your financial independence, preserve retirement assets and provide greater control over where and how future care is received.
Preparing for Care Before Care Is Needed
Long-term care planning is not simply an insurance decision. It is part of a broader conversation about independence, family, retirement income and the preservation of personal choices.
What Is Long-Term Care Insurance?
Long-Term Care Insurance, commonly referred to as LTCI, is designed to help pay for certain extended-care services that may not be covered by traditional health insurance or Medicare.
Depending on the policy, benefits may help pay for assistance received at home, through an adult day-care program, in an assisted-living community or in a nursing facility.
Coverage is generally intended to address ongoing assistance with activities of daily living or care associated with a qualifying cognitive impairment. Exact benefit triggers, covered services, limitations and exclusions are determined by the individual insurance contract.
Protect More Than Your Portfolio
A long-term care strategy can support financial stability while helping individuals and families prepare for difficult care decisions before a health event occurs.
Protect Retirement Assets
A dedicated source of care funding may reduce the need to liquidate investments or draw heavily from retirement accounts during an extended period of care.
Maintain Independence
Planning in advance may provide greater control over how care is funded and where services are received.
Preserve Family Resources
Insurance benefits may help reduce the financial and caregiving responsibilities that could otherwise fall on children, spouses or other family members.
Support Legacy Planning
Care funding can be coordinated with estate and legacy objectives so that assets intended for family or charitable purposes are not unintentionally redirected.
What May Be Covered?
Coverage varies substantially among insurers and contracts. Benefits, exclusions, eligibility requirements and payment methods should be reviewed carefully before purchasing a policy.
Depending on the policy, long-term care benefits may be available for services received in several different settings.
Care Provided in the Home
Assistance from qualified home-care professionals, including help with personal care and activities of daily living.
Assisted-Living Care
Services provided in a residential community offering personal assistance, supervision and support.
Nursing Facility Care
Covered care received in a qualified nursing facility, subject to the policy’s definitions and requirements.
Adult Day-Care Services
Structured daytime care, supervision and activities provided outside the home.
Respite and Caregiver Support
Temporary care designed to provide relief for a family member or other unpaid caregiver.
Additional Support Services
Certain contracts may include care coordination, hospice-related services or limited home modifications.
Important Features to Evaluate
Long-term care policies are not one-size-fits-all. Each design decision may affect coverage, premiums, future purchasing power and out-of-pocket responsibility.
Monthly or Daily Benefit
The maximum benefit the contract may pay for qualifying care during a stated period.
Benefit Period or Pool
The length of time benefits may be available or the total dollar amount available under the policy.
Elimination Period
The waiting period that must generally be satisfied before the insurance company begins paying eligible benefits.
Inflation Protection
An optional feature intended to increase available benefits over time as the cost of care changes.
Benefit Triggers
The conditions that must be met before benefits become payable, such as requiring assistance with specified activities of daily living.
Shared-Care Features
Some policies allow spouses or partners to access a shared pool of benefits, subject to contract provisions.
Traditional Coverage
Stand-alone insurance designed primarily to provide qualifying long-term care benefits.
Linked-Benefit Coverage
Certain life insurance or annuity contracts may include benefits that can be used for qualifying long-term care, subject to the policy terms.
Who May Benefit from Long-Term Care Planning?
The appropriateness of insurance depends on health, age, family circumstances, available assets, expected retirement income and personal preferences.
- Individuals seeking to protect retirement savings
- Couples concerned about the financial effect on a spouse
- People who prefer care in their own home when possible
- Families seeking to reduce future caregiving burdens
- Individuals with estate or legacy-planning objectives
- People who want greater control over future care decisions
- Business owners with concentrated or illiquid assets
- Retirees who want a coordinated care-funding strategy
How Fiduciary CM® Supports the Evaluation
We approach long-term care as part of a broader financial planning process rather than as an isolated insurance purchase.
Review Your Financial Position
Evaluate retirement assets, income sources, liquidity, family circumstances and existing insurance coverage.
Estimate the Potential Exposure
Consider possible care settings, geographic costs and the amount of risk that may reasonably be retained.
Compare Available Strategies
Review traditional insurance, linked-benefit policies, personal funding and combinations of available approaches.
Coordinate and Review
Integrate the selected strategy with retirement, investment, tax and estate-planning considerations and review it as circumstances change.
Does Medicare Cover Long-Term Care?
Medicare generally does not pay for ongoing custodial long-term care when assistance with daily living is the only care needed. This may include extended help with bathing, dressing, eating or similar personal-care needs.
Medicare may provide limited coverage for qualifying skilled nursing, rehabilitation, hospice or home-health services when applicable requirements are met. This limited medical coverage should not be viewed as a substitute for a long-term care funding strategy.
Medicaid may provide long-term care assistance for eligible individuals, but eligibility rules, covered services and available facilities vary by state.
Long-Term Care Insurance FAQ
Select a question below to view the answer.
When should I begin considering long-term care insurance?
Long-term care insurance generally must be purchased before care is needed and while the applicant can meet the insurer’s underwriting requirements.
Beginning the evaluation earlier may provide more policy choices, but the appropriate timing depends on health, financial resources, family circumstances and overall retirement objectives.
How do long-term care benefits usually become available?
Policies commonly require certification that the insured needs substantial assistance with a specified number of activities of daily living or has a qualifying cognitive impairment.
The exact definitions, certification requirements and waiting periods are established by the policy.
What happens if I purchase a policy and never need care?
With traditional long-term care insurance, benefits are generally paid only after the policy’s requirements are satisfied.
Certain linked-benefit life insurance or annuity contracts may provide a death benefit, cash value or other contractual benefit when long-term care benefits are not fully used. Terms vary substantially by product.
Can premiums increase after a policy is issued?
Premium provisions vary by contract. Certain traditional long-term care policies may be subject to insurer-requested class-wide premium increases that require regulatory approval.
Policy guarantees, payment requirements and the effect of a premium increase should be reviewed carefully.
How much coverage should I consider?
The appropriate amount depends on local care costs, existing assets, retirement income, available family support, desired care settings and the amount of risk you are comfortable funding personally.
Coverage may be designed to pay all anticipated expenses or to cover only part of the potential cost.
Is long-term care insurance appropriate for everyone?
No. Some individuals may have sufficient resources to fund care personally, while others may find premiums difficult to maintain or may not qualify medically.
The decision should be based on an individualized review of affordability, risk, available resources and planning goals.
Make Long-Term Care Part of the Retirement Conversation
Fiduciary CM® can help you evaluate how potential care needs may affect your retirement income, investment portfolio, family and estate-planning objectives.
This material is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as individualized investment, insurance, tax or legal advice. Long-term care insurance policy benefits, exclusions, limitations, benefit triggers, elimination periods, premiums and underwriting requirements vary by insurer, policy and state.
Insurance products are offered through appropriately licensed insurance professionals and independent insurance agencies that are not affiliated with Fiduciary Capital Management LLC. Insurance product guarantees are subject to the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.
Advisory services are offered through Fiduciary Capital Management LLC, a registered investment adviser. Registration does not imply a particular level of skill or training.