Smart Money magazine published an article several years ago that argued against buying LTC in your 50s or earlier because the standard 5% inflation protection coverage would not keep up with the average 7% increase in nursing home costs. Basically, the earlier you buy the policy, the larger the gap that you will have between what your policy pays out and what the actual costs will be. Here are a couple of quotes from the article: "The 5% inflation adjustment is the industry standard, adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in the early 1990s. If the insurance industry were to adopt the 7% inflation figure that some predict, 'the cost would be prohibitive', says Tom Foley, an actuary with the North Dakota Insurance Department who chairs the NAIC's long-term care rate stabilization woking group." "The average age at which people buy long-term-care insurance is now about 65, and given the effects of inflation on your coverage, not to mention the uncertainty of health care costs and public policy 20 or 30 years from now, why buy it earlier than that? 'If there's a liklihood you might develop a health problem that makes long-term-care insurance expensive, you might want to buy it sooner', says Chuck Mondin of the United Seniors Health Cooperative, a nonprofit advocacy group. Otherwise, wait."

I am 3 mos from medicare and currently looking for the right supplemental insurance. As a single person, my current insurance is 780 per mo with a 2000 deductable. They doubled my premium the minute I turned 64. Tried to find another insurance but simple issues like a prescription used once, allows them to deny me. The only insurance I could find which would cover me had a 20,000 deductable and wouldn't cover existing condition for 6 mos....340 a month. And, my current insurance would not let me change my policy to lower monthly costs. Different states have different laws and has nothing to do with the same insurance company. If I had lived in FL the change was available, my state doesn't support this. With all, I stayed and paid...figured it was an additional 4,000 this year to keep my sanity after all the hours of searching for insurance that didn't want me. Had never gone to the doctor except for a yearly physical....this year I am staying completely away from them to eliminate the 2,000 deductable. I am greatful that I can eek by for a few more months with the increase, but it irks me everytime I write the check. I do have a medical problem, but it doesn't require care and only take a cheap medication. I was healthy as a horse until a year ago, but cannot feel comfortable without health insurance knowing how quickly our health can change. Without insurance they could take everything beyond my home and car...but then how would I pay for them, upkeep, etc. without my small cushion beyond social security income. And if you can't keep them, you sell and have money and they can take that. Am in the middle, have enough to live comfortably, not an extreme lifestyle, and figure I can live another 15 years this way...if health stays in line and hopefully medicare years will ease the burden of high insurance payments. My savings cushion however eliminates any outside help/benefits....you either have to be destitute or a millionaire to survive. Middle pays the way. At a time when retirement should be the best of our years, it evolves into spending the least you can and putting up with the "big guys" taking as much as they can. I sincerely worry about my children and what they will be looking at in the future to care for themselves. How much more all of this will cost and how long will they have to work to pay for all. Maybe I should have put this ramble under another thread. But the question about how much for health care really wasn't answered due to what is such a broad environment that we as retirees live in.

In Rita May's defense, sometimes the choices we have to make are difficult. It's easy to say that it isn't a good idea to not have health insurance. But the cost can be prohibitive. I don't know if prices are uniform all over the country or not, but I can tell you that here in California private insurance costs are outrageous. And fewer and fewer employers are offering health insurance to employees, or are making them pay a large portion of it. And because DH has had cancer, changing insurances isn't a real option for us (remember pre-existing conditions). Every year when our contract renews, of course the price goes up. Last year we were paying more than $1,100 per month for the two of us to have medical and dental. In June, when our contract came up for renewal, it was going up another $200+. So we ended up moving to a plan with less coverage to bring the cost down. And this is with a high deductible. So every month I pay for the privilege of SAYING that we have health coverage, but we pay full price until our large deductible is met (we're healthy, so deductible is never met). We argue about this subject every month when I write the check. He says we're throwing our money away. I argue that, while I agree that it's not helping us out now, chances are that as we get older we may need to be hospitalized for one thing or another and that is when the insurance will become "worth it". Many people have to choose between having health insurance and having food on the table. It isn't any wonder that there are so many uninsured. Sad, sad, sad.

I hope it didn't sound like I don't have compassion for the mentally ill, Oakley. I very much do, which is why I work with that population. And I know that not all bipolar sufferers are aggressive or at all dangerous to be around, even when manic. Brittney's father may control her funds, but even if it was court ordered, Brittney's case is an outlier. Most "regular" people don't have the resources to contain a seriously mentally ill adult child. Even if they have the legal right to compel the ill person to live in a particular place and take meds, etc., they have no physical way to make that happen if the person wants to leave or refuses medication. I've had clients who routinely skip out the bedroom window, prostitute themselves, run away, use illegal drugs, participate in very dangerous behaviors, and the legal guardian has the right to call the police and report that the person is gone without permission and off their meds. That doesn't make the client magically appear safely back in the house, palm held out and eager to take their meds. I work with families who go through this regularly. They can't afford henchmen to keep the ill person contained or under observation. They can't always physically withstand the ill person as they tear out the door. Etc. Brittney's father has resources that many do not. I certainly do hope the OP's friend has compassion for her husband. I also don't think having compassion for him means you want to play roulette with his genes if you don't have to. I may be a grump about it because of all the stuff I see at work. I have no rainbows and unicorn stories but lots of terrified and worn out family members. NAMI.org support groups are a lifesaver for some of them.