The National Program on Women and Aging estimates that the average cost of nursing home care across the country is between $40,000 to $80,000 a year. That breaks down to $100-$200 a day. Even though Medicare was put in place partly to cover those unexpected long care costs, most people don’t know that long-term health care is not covered by Medicare or other general health insurance policies.

Individuals only consider this type of insurance when about to reach retirement age. However, it’s beneficial to start thinking about it at a younger age because better coverage is available for healthy individuals. You wouldn’t want to wait until your late 60’s or early 70’s. Often by then, due to the aging process, chronic illnesses and conditions may already be affecting your health.

If you’re wondering if you should purchase long-term care insurance, here’s something to consider. If you have a large disposable income then you probably don’t need the insurance. But if you don’t, long-term care insurance would be a good investment. When parents can’t pay for long-term heath care, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of other family members.

Let’s look at the numbers. At age 40 is possible to buy a policy that would cover you through two years of nursing home or in home care for about $450 a year. If you were to wait until age 70, the same policy would cost $1300 a year. It’s simple appreciation. Your care will only cost as much as it was at the time of purchasing the policy. So by buying it at a younger age, you’ve essentially “locked in” that rate.

Now a days, most insurance companies will sell to people as young as 40. Some insurance companies will even sell to people as young as 18. On the other end, most companies will sell to people as old as 84, but they aren’t eligible for all the benefits past the age of 79.

When trying to decide what is an affordable premium, keep in mind that long-term care insurance is like any other insurance you’ve purchased for your house or car. The lower the premium, the higher the deductible. You might consider a 20-30 day or even up to a 100 day waiting period before your insurance policy takes effect in order to lower your premium but no one should assume that Medicare will cover the costs until then.

There are many other options available besides individual policies. Most if not all states have free or inexpensive help for long-term care insurance needs and can be found by talking to an area federally funded agency. To find one of these agencies, you can contact your state or local Area Agency on Aging, a senior center, or by calling the Eldercare Locator toll-free at 1-800-677-1116.

Good planning is always beneficial and long-term health care is something we should plan for. While these are the details that as we age we don’t like to think about, if we don’t, who will?