Why Hybrid Long-Term Care Deserves a Spot in Your Retirement Conversation

September is National Preparedness Month — a fitting moment to talk with clients about a risk that can upend even a well-built retirement plan: long-term care. As Carroll Golden, Executive Director of NAIFA's Knowledge Centers, notes in a recent piece for ADVISOR Magazine, the numbers are hard to ignore. Federal data suggests more than half of Americans turning 65 will eventually need some level of long-term care, and nearly a quarter will need it for five years or more — at costs that can run well over $100,000 a year for nursing home care and tens of thousands annually even for part-time home care.

That's where hybrid long-term care policies come in. By combining life insurance with LTC benefits, they solve a common objection to standalone LTC coverage: the fear of paying premiums for a benefit you might never use. With a hybrid policy, unused care benefits can pass on as a death benefit instead. But Golden is clear that it's one pool of money, not two separate perks — the more that's spent on care, the less remains for beneficiaries.

Hybrid coverage tends to resonate most with clients who've set aside assets for future health costs, want to shield their portfolio from care expenses, or hold an older life insurance policy that no longer fits its original purpose. And since long-term care today often means help at home or in assisted living rather than a nursing home, hybrid solutions can reframe the conversation from "avoiding a nursing home" to "how do you want to fund your independence."

Read the full article, Hybrid Long-Term Care, on LifeHealth.com.