While long-term care insurance costs increased slightly in 2017, some coverage can be less expensive depending on the insurer, according to new data from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.
The 2018 Long-Term Care Insurance Price Index, an annual compendium of pricing prepared by the AALTCI, found that some costs have actually declined since a year ago.
"In general costs increased slightly compared to our 2017 analysis, but indeed in some situations, though, purchasing a new policy could [cost] slightly less," said Jesse Slome, director of AALTCI.
According to the 2018 LTC Price Index, the average premium for a 60-year-old couple was $3,490 annually, while the 2017 study reported the same coverage to be $3,790.
Sloame notes "a number of reasons" for the price drop. For instance, fewer insurers are offering traditional long-term care insurance policies and some of the higher-priced insurers "sell so few policies that we excluded them from this year's study as they really were not representative of the market conditions."
A single 55-year-old man could expect to pay $1,870 annually for benefits that would grow to be worth $386,500 when he turned 85.
