* Long Term Care insurance - Will you need it or not?

Everyone wants to know if they will actually use the long term care insurance they purchase. Some say, why pay so much money for LTCi, if I’m not going to use it. Others, reasonably, hope to never use it, but prefer paying 3-4 thousand a year for insurance over paying 3-5K a month to privately pay.

So, what is the likelihood that you’ll need long term care?

Here’s an interesting little tidbit:

An article on the Healthcare Economist website basically says that if you think you’ll need long term care within the next five years you will be, indeed, more likely to need it. It’s a little like quantum physics…

Fortunately for them, people who think they’ll need long term care are also more likely to purchase long-term care insurance.

These folks are referred to as “risk avoidance” types. They don’t like taking risks. They prefer having all their ducks in a row and insurance can be a big part of their financial planning.

So, I bet you’re thinking that if you don’t think you’ll need long term care, you’ll be okay. If you trust enough and you are carefree enough, you won’t need to protect yourself with long term care insurance. Right?

Well, here’s the catch. Risk adverse or avoidance types are also more likely to take care of their health, so they are less likely to need long term care in the future. Ah, there’s the cosmic joke. Those little worry warts who buy all that insurance may end up not needing it, simply because they take such good care of themselves.

I suppose, if you truly believe with every fiber of your being, that you will live a life free of long term care AND if you took very good care of every facet of your body, mind and spirit AND you had good, strong genes AND you’ve lived a clean, stress free life AND you didn’t have any life lessons to learn about receiving love or having patience or sharing compassion or living every moment with joy no matter what, then you may very well be one of those folks who won’t need long term care.

Otherwise, it might be a good idea to cover your bases.

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