Broker Check

Looking at Flexible Long-Term Care Options

August 31, 2022

For many retirees, long-term care insurance can offer a helpful safety net for protecting retirement income in the event of a serious illness or incapacitation. Clients often have concerns when it comes time to plan, like not qualifying for a traditional long-term care insurance policy due to age, chronic illness, or other factors. Some are reluctant to pay for covered custodial services that may never be used.

For these reasons and more, options for long-term care planning have become more flexible in recent years. Some alternatives to traditional long-term care policies include:

  • Life insurance and annuity products with LTC riders
  • Swapping an older life insurance policy that has accumulated a large cash value for a hybrid policy that would offer a death benefit and LTC benefits; if benefits aren’t used for care, the policy eventually will pay a death benefit

If you’d like to learn more about strategies to help protect your income in retirement and guard against rising healthcare costs, let’s talk. Together, we can determine the right strategy for your situation and needs.

The cost and availability of life insurance depend on factors such as age, health, and the type and amount of insurance purchased. Before implementing a strategy involving life insurance, it would be prudent to make sure that you are insurable by having the policy approved. As with most financial decisions, there are expenses associated with the purchase of life insurance.  Policies commonly have mortality and expense charges. In addition, if a policy is surrendered prematurely, there may be surrender charges and income tax implications. The guarantees provided by the insurance company are contingent on the claims-paying ability of the issuing company.