Is Long Term Care Insurance a good investment?

Insurance should never be viewed as an investment. Insurance provides protection against certain foreseeable and unforeseeable risks.

In the case of long term care insurance (LTC), premiums are paid in anticipation of a person needing home health care or care in a facility for older people when they are unable to care for themselves. When the need arises, the insurance company pays to or on behalf of the insured the benefit purchased that correlates with the premium that has been paid. When LTC is purchased, the insured has various options as to daily benefits and duration of payments; the amount of premium (the cost of the insurance) is based in part on those variables. It is also based in part upon the age of the insurance when the insurance is purchased. In that respect, there is a difference of opinion whether LTC should be purchased when a person is young (and therefore, presumably, more healthy), or whether one should wait until they are older. If purchased when young, barring unforeseen circumstances, premiums will be paid for a longer time. However, if one waits to buy LTC health issues may arise that make the insurance more costly or unavailable.