Long-Term Care Insurance Cost Calculator

How Long-Term Care Insurance Pricing Works

Long-term care insurance premiums depend heavily on age at purchase, gender, health, daily benefit amount, benefit period, and inflation protection rider. Premiums for a healthy 60-year-old typically run $1,500-3,000/year for a $200/day, 3-year benefit with 3% compound inflation, per the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) 2024 Price Index (source: aaltci.org). Premiums roughly double every 10 years of issue age and are 30-50% higher for women due to longer life expectancy and higher claim incidence.

This calculator uses simplified pricing models based on published industry averages. Actual quotes vary by carrier, state, underwriting class, and rider choices. Get quotes from at least three carriers — pricing dispersion is wide and one carrier may quote 40-60% less than another for identical coverage. Brokers specializing in LTCi access multiple carriers and can match your underwriting profile to the most competitive quote.

Traditional LTCi vs Hybrid Life/LTC in 2026

Traditional LTCi pays annual premiums that can be increased by the carrier with state insurance regulator approval. Rate increases of 30-90% have hit many older blocks of business over the past 15 years, eroding the value proposition. Newer policies are priced more conservatively and have stricter underwriting, but rate-increase risk remains a real concern. If you never need care, you forfeit all premiums paid (use-it-or-lose-it).

Hybrid life/LTC policies combine permanent life insurance with an LTC rider. You pay a single lump sum or 10 annual premiums and receive guaranteed-issue or simplified-issue coverage. If you need LTC, the policy accelerates the death benefit (or pays extension benefits up to a multiple of the face amount). If you never need LTC, your heirs receive the death benefit. If you change your mind, most hybrids include a return-of-premium guarantee. The cost: 2-3x higher initial outlay than equivalent traditional LTCi.

Self-Insuring as a Third Option

If you have $1.5M+ in liquid retirement assets, self-insuring may be the most economical option. Earmark $300,000-500,000 of your portfolio as a "LTC bucket," invest it conservatively, and let it grow. If you never need care, the bucket becomes inheritance. If you do, you draw it down for care. The downside: a 4-5 year severe-care claim can exhaust this bucket and force liquidation of other assets, potentially triggering significant capital-gains tax.

The break-even between insurance and self-insure depends on your wealth, family longevity history, and care preferences. The "asset protection" sweet spot for insurance is the middle-class — $400K-$1.5M in retirement assets — where a serious LTC event would devastate retirement security but where premiums are also a meaningful percent of income. Wealthy households often self-insure or use hybrid for legacy reasons. Middle-income households often rely on Medicaid spend-down planning instead.

The Medicaid Spend-Down Alternative

For lower-asset households, Medicaid long-term care covers nursing home costs after a 5-year look-back of asset transfers and spend-down to roughly $2,000 of countable assets ($3,000 for a married couple, with community spouse rules). This is a fundamentally different strategy — not insurance, but income/asset planning. See our Medicaid spend-down calculator and the federal SSA guidance (source: medicaid.gov).

For broader retirement and insurance planning, see our Medigap vs MA calculator, QLAC calculator, and RMD calculator.

Last updated April 2026. Sources: aaltci.org, acl.gov, medicaid.gov, naic.org.