The Tax Deductibility of Long-Term Care Insurance Premiums
Premiums for "qualified" long-term care insurance policies are tax deductible to the extent that they, along with other unrei...
Read moreWhen advising clients about how to plan for the possibility of needing long-term care, elder law attorneys generally put long-term care insurance (LTCI) at or near the top of the list of planning strategies, provided the clients can afford the coverage and are insurable. But are elder law attorneys walking the walk for themselves and their families as well as talking the talk to their clients?
For the most part, yes, according to a recent ElderLawAnswers survey. In the survey, 58 percent of responding elder law attorneys said they have LTCI. Another 10 percent said they are planning on buying it but haven't gotten around to it yet and about 8 percent lack coverage because they are uninsurable.
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Of those who don't have LTCI, the primary reason is that it's considered too expensive. The other reasons respondents gave, in descending order, were that they're too young to think about buying it, they are uninsurable, they plan to self-insure, they don't trust the insurance companies, and they are concerned about rising premiums. One attorney out of the 87 respondents intends to spend down his or her resources to qualify for Medicaid coverage of long-term care.
A number of responding attorneys also added comments about their reasons for purchasing LTCI and their experiences with it. Following is a sampling of the comments:
*One of the drawbacks of long-term care insurance is that companies are usually unwilling to guarantee that the premiums will not rise over time. One solution is an option offered by some companies known as "10-pay" policies. These policies require only 10 annual premium payments and then the policies are paid up for life. Of course, the premiums are higher over those 10 years, but when done the policyholder's long-term care funding is complete.
For more on long-term care insurance, click here.
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