Step 1 of 4 — Personal Profile
Age and gender are the two biggest drivers of LTC need and cost.
Step 2 of 4 — Health & Risk Factors
These factors directly affect your LTC probability score.
Step 3 of 4 — Financial Profile
Used to calculate your coverage gap — what insurance would need to fund.
Step 4 of 4 — Care Preferences
Your preferred care setting determines which cost data drives your projection.
| Care Type | Today's Cost | Projected (at onset) |
|---|
Projected costs use 4.5% annual healthcare inflation (AALTCI). Onset projected at age 77.
How the LTC Insurance Need Calculator Works
This tool combines your personal risk factors with live state cost data to compute a precise coverage gap — the amount of LTC insurance coverage that makes sense for your situation.
🎯 Personalized Risk Scoring
Your LTC need probability score (0–100) is computed using gender (women have a 70% lifetime probability vs. 50% for men), family history of dementia, current health status, and marital status. No two scores are alike.
📊 Live State Cost Data
Costs vary dramatically by state — Alaska nursing homes run $27,000+/month while Mississippi costs under $5,000. We use the Genworth 2024 Cost of Care Survey, the most comprehensive dataset available.
📈 Healthcare Inflation Projection
LTC costs inflate at roughly 4–5% annually — faster than general CPI. If you're 58 today, your care won't start for ~20 years. We project forward at 4.5% to show real future costs, not today's prices.
🛡️ Coverage Gap Analysis
The gap accounts for what Medicare won't cover (it doesn't cover custodial care), what Medicaid requires (asset spend-down plus the 5-year lookback rule), and what your assets can self-fund before depletion.
What Medicaid and Medicare Don't Cover
The most common misconception in LTC planning: many people assume Medicare or Medicaid will cover long-term care. Medicare covers only skilled nursing care for up to 100 days after a qualifying hospital stay — not the custodial care (help with bathing, dressing, eating) that most long-term care requires.
Medicaid does cover custodial care, but only after you spend down your assets to your state's eligibility threshold (typically $2,000 for a single person). The 5-year lookback rule means any assets transferred within 5 years of application can be counted against you.
Traditional vs. Hybrid LTC Insurance
Traditional LTC insurance provides a defined daily benefit for a set number of years. Premiums can increase over time (this has happened historically). Hybrid Life/LTC policies combine permanent life insurance with a long-term care rider — premiums are fixed, and the death benefit is payable to heirs if LTC coverage is never used. Hybrids have become more popular precisely because of the fixed-premium structure.