When Should Someone Buy Long Term Care Insurance? 
As a retirement planning specialist , I spend alot of time doing long term care planning . Why would I do this ? Because NOTHING will derail a person 's life-time savings faster than a custodial -LRB- AKA long term care -RRB- claim . There are two reasons why a person should purchase LTC ; the first is that they care about the quality of care , and having a say in where care will be provided , should they require it . The second reason is that they care about protecting the assets that they have acquired over the course of their life-time , and they want to protect those assets for their healthy spouse and/or children , rather then have those assets eaten up by impairment , or having them signed over to medicaid or a nursing home . As far as WHEN a person should purchase coverage ; my youngest clients are usually in their 40 's , and with them I usually recommend a hybrid life insurance-LTC product ; my average clients are in their mid 50 's to late 60 's , and for them I recommend either traditional long term care or a single premium policy with refund provisions , and my oldest clients are in their mid 70 's . I think the best time to purchase for most people is in their mid to late 50 's , because most will get better underwriting and a favorable premium . I hope this helps . 