Long-Term Care Planning for Couples

If both you and your spouse reach age 65, one of you can be expected to live to age 90. That is a long time, and the later years often bring the need for long-term care.

The financial impact can be severe. Half of all older Americans living alone will spend themselves into poverty after just 13 weeks in a nursing home. Among married couples, 56% will spend down their income to the poverty level after one spouse has spent six months in a nursing home. Sixty percent of people worry that they or their spouse will require long-term care at some point.

Long-term care insurance matters not just for the person who needs care but for the spouse who does not. Even if you have sufficient assets to cover nursing home costs, spending them down depletes what you leave to your surviving spouse, your children and other heirs. Planning for this possibility – ideally while you are still healthy enough to qualify for coverage at a reasonable cost – is one of the most protective things a married couple can do for each other.