By Marc Gilman
(800) 927-9326 |
Almost everyone agrees long-term care planning matters. Survey research from Versta Research, commissioned by Lincoln Financial Group, found that 96% of Americans believe it’s important to plan for long-term care before you need it. The gap isn’t agreement — it’s action. Here are ten specific, research-backed reasons the conversation is worth having now, not eventually.
Key Takeaways:
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Nearly everyone agrees planning matters in theory — 96% of Americans surveyed say it’s important to plan ahead, and 94% of financial professionals say people wait too long to actually do it.
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People consistently underestimate the real cost of care — surveyed Americans underestimated the potential cost by more than half of what it actually runs.
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A lot of people are unintentionally relying on a plan that isn’t really a plan — more than half of Americans surveyed say a spouse is effectively their long-term care insurance, and roughly half of adult children hope they never have to become a caregiver themselves.
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Being healthy today doesn’t reduce your lifetime risk the way people assume — living a healthy lifestyle can mean living longer, which means more years of exposure to age-related care needs, not fewer.
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Even people who could pay out of pocket often benefit from coverage anyway — 9 out of 10 financial professionals surveyed say long-term care coverage offers real tax-free financial leverage, even for people who could technically self-insure.
1. It’s Already Part of Retirement Planning, Whether You’ve Treated It That Way or Not
96% of Americans surveyed believe it’s more important to plan for long-term care in advance than to handle it after the fact. The agreement is nearly universal — the follow-through is what’s missing.
2. Your Family Is Counting on You to Have a Plan
99% of Americans surveyed said it’s important for families to actually talk about long-term care preferences with each other. Not having that conversation doesn’t make the topic go away — it just means your family is guessing at what you’d want, at the exact moment they’re least equipped to guess well.
3. Waiting Costs You More Than You Think
94% of financial professionals surveyed agree that people wait too long before discussing their plans and options. That’s not a coincidence — waiting narrows your options, since cost and underwriting outcomes both tend to move in the wrong direction the longer this gets put off.
4. Medicare and Medicaid Won’t Cover What You Assume They Will
Medicare, at best, covers a narrow, short-term skilled nursing benefit — not ongoing long-term care. Medicaid can be a real resource if you qualify, but it doesn’t account for your choices or preferences about where and how you receive care the way private coverage can. Assuming either program has this handled is one of the most common and costly planning mistakes.
5. You Don’t Actually Want to Self-Fund This, Even If You Could
9 out of 10 financial professionals surveyed agree that even for people who can afford to self-insure, long-term care coverage still provides real, tax-free financial leverage. Being able to pay out of pocket isn’t the same as it being the most efficient way to pay.
6. The Real Cost Is Probably Higher Than You’d Guess
Surveyed Americans significantly underestimated the potential cost of long-term care — by more than half of what it can actually run. If your mental estimate of care costs hasn’t been checked against real, current numbers, it’s probably too low.
7. You and Your Spouse May Not Actually Be on the Same Page
More than half of Americans surveyed said having a spouse is effectively their long-term care insurance. That’s an understandable instinct, but it’s worth naming directly: a spouse can be a genuine source of care, and also may need care at the same time, may not be physically able to provide it, or may not outlive you. Treating a person as a backup plan is different from actually having one.
8. Your Family Needs an Actual Plan, Not an Assumption
53% of sons and nearly half of daughters surveyed said they hope they don’t become their parents’ caregiver. That’s not a lack of love — it’s an honest reflection of how disruptive full-time caregiving actually is to someone’s own life. If the unspoken plan is “my kids will take care of me,” it’s worth checking whether that’s actually the plan they’re hoping for too.
9. Professional Care Is Often the More Realistic Choice, Not the Less Loving One
69% of individuals surveyed worry they wouldn’t be able to provide adequate care themselves if a family member needed it. That worry is common because it’s often true — caregiving takes specific skills and sustained availability that even the most devoted family member may not realistically have.
10. Good Health Today Doesn’t Exempt You From Planning
72% of surveyed Americans believe living a healthy lifestyle is the answer to avoiding long-term care needs. But a healthy lifestyle tends to mean a longer life, and a longer life means more years of exposure to the health-related risks that come with aging. Good health is worth having for its own sake — it just isn’t a substitute for a plan.
Where Does Insurance Planning Fit In?
None of these reasons point to one specific product — they point to the value of having an actual plan instead of an assumption. Whether that plan involves standalone long-term care insurance, a hybrid life-or-annuity-based product, recovery care insurance, or some combination depends on your health, your family situation, and your budget. What all ten of these reasons have in common is that they’re easier to act on before a health event forces the timeline.
What To Do Next
If any of these reasons hit close to home, let’s talk through what an actual plan would look like for your situation. Call us at (800) 927-9326 or email — no pressure, just straight answers.
By Marc Gilman, Gilman Agency
This information is general in nature and not intended as tax, legal, or medical advice. Statistics cited are from Versta Research, “2023 LTC Marketing and Thought Leadership Research, Findings from Surveys of Advisors and Consumers,” August 2023, as reported by Lincoln Financial Group. Individual eligibility, underwriting outcomes, and costs vary by carrier, product, and personal circumstances.
Sources: Versta Research, “2023 LTC Marketing and Thought Leadership Research, Findings from Surveys of Advisors and Consumers” (August 2023), as reported by Lincoln Financial Group, “10 Reasons Why You Should Be Talking About Long-Term Care.”
