One policy. Two promises: your family is protected, and your care is paid for.
Life insurance with a long-term care rider pays for home care, assisted living, or a nursing home if you need it — and pays your family in full if you never do.
The risk in retirement isn’t only dying too soon.
It’s living long enough to need help with daily life, and paying for it out of savings meant to last two lifetimes. South Florida rates run at or above the national medians shown here. Medicare does not pay for custodial care, and Medicaid requires you to spend down nearly everything first.
Stand-alone long-term care insurance was the right answer for a generation. Three things changed: premiums on older policies rose sharply (often 50–100% over the life of the contract), many carriers left the market, and the “use it or lose it” structure meant a healthy policyholder paid for decades and got nothing back. Roughly seven in ten people will need care — which means three in ten paid for nothing.
What care costs — national medians, 2025
| Setting | Per year |
|---|---|
| In-home caregiver, 44 hrs/week | $80,080 |
| Assisted living community | $74,400 |
| Nursing home, semi-private room | $114,972 |
| Nursing home, private room | $129,576 |
An LTC rider, step by step
- 1
You buy a permanent life insurance policy — say, a $500,000 death benefit — and add a long-term care (or “chronic illness”) rider.
- 2
Premiums are typically guaranteed. Many hybrid policies can be paid up in 10 years, or with a single deposit, so there is nothing to pay in retirement.
- 3
If you become unable to perform two of six activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, transferring, continence) or have a severe cognitive impairment, the rider is triggered.
- 4
The policy advances a portion of the death benefit each month — commonly 2% to 4%, or $10,000 to $20,000 a month on a $500,000 policy — to pay for care at home or in a facility. Many policies pay cash directly to you, so family caregivers can be compensated.
- 5
Whatever you don’t use for care is paid to your beneficiaries as a death benefit, income-tax-free.
- 6
Some hybrid designs add an extension-of-benefits rider that keeps paying for care after the death benefit is exhausted, and a return-of-premium option if you change your mind.
Who it fits
- Ages 50–70 in reasonable health — the earlier you apply, the lower the cost and the easier the underwriting
- Anyone with $250,000 or more in savings they’d rather not spend on care
- Couples — several carriers offer joint policies covering both spouses
- Clients holding an old life policy or non-qualified annuity with cash value (often movable via tax-free 1035 exchange)
Funding options
- Single premium: one deposit, done. Popular with clients moving money from CDs or an old policy.
- 10-pay: level premiums for 10 years, fully paid before retirement.
- Lifetime pay: lowest annual outlay; premiums remain guaranteed.
Tax notes
Benefits paid under a qualified long-term care rider are generally received income-tax-free. Cash value grows tax-deferred. The death benefit is income-tax-free to beneficiaries. Florida has no state income tax. Florida is a Long-Term Care Partnership state, though partnership asset protection applies to stand-alone LTC policies rather than riders — we’ll walk through which structure fits.
The three objections we hear most
“I’ll self-insure.”
You can. A three-year care event at today’s Florida rates costs $250,000–$400,000 per person, rising with inflation. A hybrid policy can protect that amount for a fraction of it, and if you never need care your family gets the money anyway.
“I have Medicare.”
Medicare covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing after a hospital stay. It pays nothing toward custodial care — help with bathing, dressing, and eating — which is what most long-term care actually is.
“I’m too old / not healthy enough.”
Underwriting for LTC riders is often more forgiving than for stand-alone LTC insurance. It’s worth an application.
“I now have peace of mind! Thanks to Todd and the strategy options he put together, I feel secure about my goals for my golden years and know that my families will be taken care of as well. Working with Todd was a dream.”
Kathryn R · Client of Lesk Life Insurance
Find out what an LTC rider would cost you.
Tell us your age, state of health, and roughly what you’d like protected. We’ll return two or three illustrations from top-rated carriers, explained in plain English.