I work for the federal government and after pricing their ltc insurance I think I can do better with individual policies for my wife and myself. I read your Complete Financial Security Plan brochure and was quite interested in the boldface sentence about not deleting the inflation coverage. I had always included the 5% compounding when asking for a quote. It seems to about double the premium. This morning a New York Life agent suggested increasing the daily benefit $70 or $80 a month and not use the 5% compounding. That might last me about 10 years before having to buy additional coverage and be a lot cheaper. Do you agree or disagree? Can you steer me toward any particular company? I am 53 (in good health). My wife is 43 (has been diagnosed with Raynaud’s Syndrome but is not disabled in any way and works 40/hrs a week). I looked at a company that is rated very highly but again the 5% compound doubles the premium.

Just let me say this, looking at LTC insurance without inflation coverage is like looking at a health insurance policy that only pays hospital room rates at what they cost today, and you would never consider that, would you? Terrible advice from the other agent, the cost is tripling in 20 years and you are only 53 years old, 30 years from now when you’re 83 you’ll be looking at costs of probably $850/day and that much benefit isn’t even offered today. If anything, you need to bump up your daily benefit a little more than the average cost in your area, because the inflation on the policy is 5% compound, and the government projection is more like 5.8%. Also, think very hard about the federal plan, I think that may be the way your wife can get coverage and that’s a wonderful gift.

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