The Insurance Buying Guide: Long-Term Care Insurance Introduction

Long-term care insurance will pay your expenses if you need to enter a nursing home. It also provides coverage if you need someone to come to your home and help you with the tasks of everyday living, such as bathing, dressing and eating.

Long-term care (LTC) insurance is a relatively new idea. In 1980, only about a dozen insurance companies offered this kind of coverage. But LTC insurance is gaining in popularity, and fast. Today, hundreds of insurance companies offer this coverage, and millions of Americans have purchased policies. Why is the market growing so quickly? There are a number of reasons, including:

• the aging of our population;
• longer life expectancy;
• increasing health care costs; and
• the fact that government programs often do not provide the kind of coverage needed -- or desired.

You can get LTC coverage on an individual policy or through an employer-sponsored group program. Or you can add an LTC rider to your life insurance policy.