The premiums for long-term care insurance are level. This means that the company cannot raise your premiums unless all policies for a class of policy holders are raised. However, the company can, and probably will, raise your premiums. If you can barely afford the policy today, you may not be able to afford it years from now if your income remains relatively fixed and the premiums, as well as other costs, increase. Most policies offer an inflation adjustment that increases the benefit amount in future years.
Policies differ in how the inflation adjustment is calculated.
Some policies offer an automatic adjustment, inflating the original benefit amount 5 percent for either 20 years or until the policyholder reaches the age of 86 years. If you are under 65 when you purchase the policy, adjusting for 20 years is better. Some policies inflate the benefit amount for the lifetime of the policyholder. Besides your age, the premium is related to the benefit amount, the length of the benefit period, and the deductible period. The deductible period is the number of days you pay for before the policy starts to pay.