No company will want to sell you a policy since they will face losses. Although the need for long-term care can arise gradually as a person ages and needs more and more assistance with activities of daily living, for most a stroke or a heart attack will be the precipitating need. Those with acute illnesses may need nursing-home care for a matter of months, while others may need care for years. Of those who live to age 65, nearly 1 in 3 will spend three months or more in a nursing home and 1 in 4 will spend one year or more in a nursing home. Only 1 in 11 will spend five years or more in a nursing home.
Women outnumber men in nursing homes according to studies.
And obviously the risk of needing nursing home care increases with age. After assessing the odds, consumers must stringently analyze the reasons for a policy and the ability to pay for it for the balance of a person's life. It makes no sense to buy a policy unless it can be paid every year until death. Far too many policies are cancelled by policyholders on fixed incomes as they grow older and their premiums increase accordingly. Here are the most commonly used types of policies and their generally accepted meaning.