How to pay for long-term care insurance

Age deteriorates the body, it’s part of the human condition. Unfortunately, this means that many people will need help with everyday tasks at some point in their lives. That care is known as long-term care.

But long-term care can be expensive, and in some cases you could be paying thousands of dollars a month for it. Here’s where long term care insurance comes: It helps cover long-term care costs if and when the need arises.

then again long-term care insurance comes with a price tag of its own, which can be expensive depending on your age, location, health and gender. Fortunately, there may be some effective ways to absorb these added costs.

Find out how affordable long term care insurance can be today.

How to pay for long-term care insurance

There is a good chance that you will need long-term care, and that care can be expensive. A long-term care insurance policy can help you plan for that expense. Here are some ways to make it easier to pay for the coverage you need:

Benefit from single premium long term care insurance

There are many options to consider when deciding how to do this pay for long-term care insurance. The most common is to pay for it in regular installments (usually monthly or yearly). However, you can also choose to pay for your coverage in one upfront payment.

This option means you will likely need to come up with a large sum to pay your premium up front, but it may be wise to redistribute some of your pension funds to cover the cost. After all, your retirement account is designed to ensure that you are financially prepared for later in life, and long-term care can be a threat to your financial stability in retirement.

And you’ll likely need to plan for other risks, such as inflation and home repairs, when you set up your retirement plan. Why not use your retirement funds to plan for your long-term care?

Buy long-term care insurance now to make sure you get the care you deserve.

Add a long-term care rider to your life insurance policy

Your Long-Term Care Can Ease One inexpensive way to ease the financial burden is to include your care in life insurance. You can do it Adding a long-term care rider to your life insurance policy.

This rider can be added to your life insurance policy and allows you to use a certain percentage of your death benefit to cover long-term care costs. Life insurance policies with long-term care riders are often called hybrid policies because they cover more than one event: the need for long-term care and the death of the policyholder.

Of course, adding a long-term care rider to your life insurance policy will likely increase your premiums. But that increase in your life insurance premiums will generally cost less than a stand-alone long-term care policy might.

Use your HSA to pay your premiums

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are tax-advantaged deposit accounts that allow you to save for your health care needs on a pre-tax basis. You can use these accounts to pay health care deductibles, cover the cost of medications, and more. But did you know that your long-term care premiums are a qualified HSA expense? That means you can use the tax-advantaged money you’ve saved in your HSA to ease the cost burden of your long-term care policy now.

Buy your policy early to make sure it’s affordable

“Consider getting a long-term care policy as early as possible because the younger you are and the better your health, the better your chances of qualifying for it and the more affordable it is,” says John Hill, president of Gateway Retirement.

You might be surprised Just a few short years can make a difference in terms of long-term care insurance costs. So if you lock in your rate now, it could mean your payment remains affordable throughout your retirement.

Sign up for a long-term care insurance policy now to lock in the lowest rate.

Bottom line:

Monthly payments on a stand-alone long-term care insurance policy aren’t the only way to ensure you get the care you need. It may help to consider paying for your care all at once, adding a long-term care rider to your life insurance, or tapping into your HSA to make it easier to pay for insurance.