You can decide the coverage and the benefit period of your LTCI based on the knowledge of the average stay at a nursing home and at an assisted living facility. You can figure out ways to minimize your LTCI Premiums with the knowledge of this factor. The average stay for nursing-home residents is about 28 months and about 27 months for assisted-living residents.

After their stay in a nursing home or an assisted living facility keep in mind that many receive some kind of long term care before or after it. 40% of residents in short-stay nursing facility or an acute-care hospital move to assisted living facilities. 34% of the residents moving to a nursing home come after a stay in an assisted living facility.

Many received care in their own homes first before moving to nursing homes. According to studies, on an average a 65 year old today will need some kind of long term care services for at least three years. A LTCI policy with three year coverage is most popular because of the statistics provided above.

A longer benefit period is recommended if there is a family history of long-lasting conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. 20% of today’s 65 year olds need more than 5 years of long term care. Longer benefit periods lead to higher premiums. Usually lifetime benefits can cost more than twice the premiums of a three year benefit period.

Most popular is the policy with benefits that are ’short and fat’ rather than ‘tall and thin’. A $200 maximum daily benefit for three years is an example of a ’short and fat policy’ where you are actually buying a policy of $219,000 worth of long term care. As your daily maximum is $200, you can not use more than $200 per day. When you use less than your daily maximum amount (i.e. $200) you actually extend your coverage for more than three years.

A 6 year benefit with a daily maximum benefit of $100 is an example of a ‘tall and thin’ policy. Your daily care benefits can not be more than $100 with this policy. You will be forced to pay $50 out of pocket for every day of long term care, if your daily long term care is $150.

Look for a policy which has a longer waiting period for nursing home care, but with a zero day waiting period for home care as very often care is first received in the home. Instead of lowering the waiting period for all types of care, which can increase your premiums significantly, consider paying extra for a rider to eliminate the waiting period for home care.

A good idea to reduce premiums if you are married is to buy a shared benefit policy where each spouse buys a three year benefit, but each can use from the other’s benefit period if one needs a longer period than the other. For example, one can use the remaining one year if the spouse has already used up 5 years of coverage.

Learn more about long term care insurance. Stop by Maria Smith’s site where you can find out all about long term care health insurance and what it can do for you.

Long Term Care Insurance Policies cover a combination of nursing home care, home health care, assisted living and adult day care. Insurance companies distinguish themselves and their products by offering policies with special features, discounts, riders and expanded benefits. Long term care differs from company to company because some companies offer benefits that come with a basic policy while others add them at an extra cost through riders.

Though riders come with valuable benefits you must decide which riders are worth the extra cost. Few riders result in increased cost without corresponding increases in benefits. Review the following rider options below before you consider buying LTCI policy.

Spousal Benefit Rider A policy with the Spousal Benefit Rider though costing more comes with the advantage where each spouse can tap into the other’s benefit pool. Five or six years of benefits can be claimed by policy holders of policies with Spousal Benefit Rider.

Home Health Care Rider Some kind of home health care is offered by almost all LTCI policies as part of their basic policy. Still others offer home health care as a rider. Tax qualified long term care insurance policies allow you to use benefits which are not considered taxable income but also cover some home health care. Ask your insurance company if you have home health care coverage if you have a non-tax qualified policy.

Non-forfeiture Benefit Rider This rider allows you to still receive some of your benefits even if you stop paying premiums. The two kinds of non-forfeiture benefit riders are the ‘cash back option’ rider and the ’shortened benefit period’ rider. In case of your death or you stopped paying premiums the ‘return of premium’ rider or ‘refund of premium’ rider also known as the cash back option feature guarantees the return of your premium to you or your beneficiary. The ’shortened benefit period’ rider gives your benefits for a specific amount of time based on how much you paid into the policy.

Return of Premium or Refund of Premium Upon Death Rider The return of premium or refund of premium rider that pays only upon death is not offered by all companies nor in all states. Your designated beneficiary or estate will be entitled to receive some or all of your paid up premiums if the policy benefits are not used up by you during your life time. At a small cost this rider may be built into the policy or added on as a rider. If the policy holder dies before the age of 65 or 70 the built in return of premium or refund of premium rider allows the policy holder’s beneficiary or estate to receive the premiums paid into the policy. To receive a tax deduction in the amount of the premium the return of premium rider can be paid by a business.

Inflation Rider The most important rider regardless of which long term care insurance policy you buy is the inflation Rider. It is important you have an inflation rider in order to ensure that your LTCI benefits keep pace with the rising cost of health care.

Looking to find the best deal on long term care insurance rates, then visit www.olongtermcareinsurance.com to find the best advice on LTCI quotes for you.