Have any of you or your loved one purchased and then USED long term care insurance?

I forgot to mention, my mom purchased the insurance when she and dad were in their 60's. Their monthly premiums were less than $100.

My mom purchased LTC insurance 20 years ago from her company group insurance benefit options. The insurance company was/is Fidelity. It was a "shared" amount. Max payout was/is $250k.

Mom died 10 years ago without ever needing LTC. Four years ago dad was diagnosed with dementia and we had to move him into a Assisted Living facility.

Fidelity has came through for us! I am so grateful my mom had the foresight to purchase the insurance.

Line from an old John Prine song:

Chased a rainbow down a one way street.........Dead End

And all my friends turned out to be Insurance......Sales-Men

I am not trying to sell. You made an unequivocally false statement about the cost of LTC insurance. I thought it would be helpful to the OP and to the readers of this forum to know the facts.

I'm not upset with your post. I was an insurance agent many years ago and I know how the biz works. I hated the business and got out quickly. You advice is well taken about comparing policies. But this is not a sales site so let's end this.

I'm sorry if I upset you with my post. It was meant for informational purposes only. I have software that has the rates of the top 12 LTC insurance companies on it. It's expensive software but it makes it easy to compare rates. The reason I replied to your post was simply because most people over-estimate the cost of LTC insurance. But it's like anything else you buy: it's important to shop around. Insurance companies are not limited in the amount of profit they can price into a LTC insurance policy. Some companies price in more profit than others. When comparing the leading companies, rates for identical LTCi policies will often vary by as much as 80% (sometimes more.)

I assume you sell insurance. I'm sure the agent I talked to would tell me youre full of crap also. And I could call another agent who would tell me you're both full of crap. Whatever brand one sells is always the best in the world. I understand that.

Windyridge,

Sadly, the agent you spoke with was either incompetent or represents an insurance company that has a horribly over-priced policy.

A married couple in good health, both age 61, can share $500,000 of LTC benefits for less than $150 per month per spouse. Even after paying the premium for 20 years the LTC benefits would be 7 times greater than the total premiums paid.

The biggest mistake consumers make when investigating LTC insurance is getting quotes from only one or two insurance agents or " financial advisers".

LTC insurance is like anything else that you buy. Prices vary a lot because some companies price in very large profit margins; others don't.

Experts recommend exploring your options first in order to find the best long term care insurance plan.

How?

There are reliable sources that provide free long term care insurance quote and http://ltcga.com/ltc-quotes.html is just one of them. Requesting for quotes allow you to compare policies from different companies and help you find an affordable plan that will not jeopardize your policy benefits. This is actually recommended by experts in order to understand your options better and also to save on premiums.

Buying this type of a policy is a risk that everyone shold take since more people will most liekly require long term care. According to statistics, about 70% of Americans wil require this type of care at some point of their lives. Another reason why people should buy policy is in order to cover the high cost of care.

Genworth’s latest survey showed that staying in a semi-private room in a nursing home costs $80,300 annually while a private room costs $91,250 annually. This only shows that the cost of care will most likely exhaust your savings.

Here are some resources that can help you come up with a well-informed decision in terms of buying long term care insurance: http://longtermcare.gov/.

It's a mine field out there. Like all insurance it's just a gamble. We are early sixties and healthy and we just looked into a long term care policy. If we need care in our eighties we would have spent enough in premiums to pay for the care. It might make sense for younger folks but it ain't cheap.