A. Most people need to consider the needs of long term care. However, long term care insurance is costly, and there is a high chance you might never need it.
Below is a NY Time article discussing the rising long term care costs, long term care insurance policy's premium increase accordingly.
What will be a better alternative?
Purchasing a life insurance or annuity with long term care rider. In this way, if you need long term care, the money will be there for you to spend; if you don't need long term care, you don't see all your money go to the drain.
April 9, 2014, NY Times -
The cost of long-term care in nursing homes and assisted-living sites is increasing at a dramatic pace compared with the cost of in-home care, an annual industry survey finds.
The 10th annual “cost of care” report from Genworth Financial, a seller of long-term care policies and other insurance and financial products, collected information from 15,000 long-term care providers nationally in January and February. The cost of nursing home care has increased more than 4 percent a year over the last decade to a median annual cost of $83,950 from $65,200 annually, the company found.
The report includes an online map showing the cost of various services by state, and a summary of the median costs for the various types of care.
Roughly 70 percent of Genworth’s first-time long-term-care claimants choose in-home care, where costs have remained more manageable, the company said.