Thanks for the information. i did not realize that they do not pay for Assisted or Independent Living. I am 48. I am a really good saver. I will be aging completely alone though--no family. I am starting to think about planning on aging alone. I think I would like something that would provide in-home care. That would be good for me I think. Of course, I am also looking at those graduated care places--independent to assisted to nursing. One of the issues I will have is that I will have no advocate/family member to help me make decisions or make decisions for me. This is so confusing!

Ltc insurance is a great idea in theory but not so much in practice.

As you have noticed, it is very expensive. There are many reasons for this. A couple of them are 1- cost of care keeps going up. 2- 1 in 3 seniors will need some kind of long term care. In a nutshell, the premiums of 3 people have to fund the ltc of 1.

If you have some assets , and are not trying to protect them necessarily, it may make more sense to self insure. Just throwing out a number here, figure you will need the equivalent of 250k in today's dollars to fund your health care tomorrow - ltc plus whatever other health care expenses arent covered by Medicare. Then you have the freedom to spend it on the kind of care you feel is most suitable.

Finally, I once looked at an annuity that had an interesting ltc provision. Caveat - the annuity is a tool that can potentially solve a financial problem. It is not the appropriate tool for every financial problem. So you don't buy the annuity just because it has an ltc provision. Ppl recommend annuities far too often so just beware.

Good luck!

Thank you for the information--you seem very knowledgeable--I appreciate your help.

It is good that you are starting to look now. There are several types of continuing care communities but I will only give you the basics.

Some charge a residence fee and then a monthly maintenance. Both fees are called many things so the terminology may not be the same. The residence fee is basically purchase of a space on which you pay rent, maintenance, This fee can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. There may or may not be a separate fee for dining. Some insists that for the first month or so that you must dine in the dining area. Others you may be charged for a set number of meals and you pay extra over that. Part of the selling spiel is that if you do not like the place you can recover part of your money. The clause in many is that the recovery is only after there is a new tenant. Any updates for the new tenant is taken from your fee. One place in Minneapolis I looked at they were refurbishing it for a new person and it had been vacant for two years. If the market is good the time should be much less than that. If the place becomes less desirable it could be longer.

Some there is no fee to move in and there is a monthly fee with various add-ons such as dining, use of gym and swimming pool, certain activities, etc. The best ones, may not be more expensive, include every thing in one fee.

Both types normally have both independent and assisted living facilities but normally they will be separated so look at both.

Assisted Living: There is generally a base fee then you are charged additional for each level of care. You have to check your contract to see what is covered in a continuing care facility. In this state if you require two or more people to assist you must use a skilled nursing home facility. Most use a Hoyer lift but if you are heavy or unable to bend body parts and a one person operates the lift and the other places your body this is considered as needing skilled care.

The final chapter: Nursing Home for if you really get sick. Some will allow you to remain in your living quarters or will move you to another area/building. However many do not have a skilled facility only assisted and independent. You would want to live in a community that has activities that allow you to go places rather than in house only activities like bingo, cards, etc.

I did not like the continuing care facilities where you have a large upfront cost because I would worry too much about changes in management or bankruptcy of the facility. Both types of continuing care places will have annual increases in charges so what may be affordable now will be less so in 20 years from now. I do suggest that you start looking now so you see what is available and help decide what type of lifestyle you think you will like after retirement. You may even find one and move in before retirement.

This is all very interesting. I am 48 and a planner. I currently have a big side-by-side house. I am thinking in a couple of years I would like to move to the downtown area of the city--close to amenities and hospitals. Later on to the graduated care place. You made some really good points about large upfront cost. Thanks so much.

You also may want to consider short-term care insurance. It is much less expensive.