Should You Have Long Term Care Insurance? 
Long Term Care Insurance is recommended for those having considerable assets . If you needed to go to a nursing home or assisted living facility , or receive home health care to assist you with your activities of daily living -LRB- dressing , eating , bathing , etc -RRB- , those institutions can go after your savings and investments while you are alive -LRB- if your spouse is alive , he/she can keep half -RRB- , and even take the proceeds from your home after you and your spouse die . If you have very little in the way of assets , long term care insurance is an unnecessary expense . But if you have assets you would like to protect , and can afford the premium , having long term care insurance is an excellent tool in planning your future , preserving your peace of mind , and paying the bills if needed . And a word about life insurance policies with living benefits . I am all in favor of them , but you do need to consider how much is `` enough '' when purchasing life insurance that you may want to use if you can no longer care for yourself . Nursing home costs average nearly $ 80,000 per year , nationally , for a semi-private room . Someone wanting to hire a round the clock caregiver in their home can expect to pay over $ 175,000 per year -LRB- $ 20 per hour -RRB- . It can be expensive to buy a permanent life insurance policy with face amounts large enough to cover even a couple years of care . Just be sure you understand how much of the life insurance face amount is available to you , what triggers it takes to get it , and when you can get it . Then compare it to the price of buying long term care insurance providing comparable benefits . 