By working out the expenses of long-term care for yourself or a family member, you can ensure that you are properly prepared to handle the financial obligation. With proper planning, it’s possible to guarantee that you or your loved one will receive the level of care and attention that is deserved. For each person care costs will vary between care facilities and providers and will rely heavily on the level, and type of care, that is needed. It is suggested by theAmerican Health Care Associationthat 60% of seniors in long-term care settings require the care for approximately 4 to 5 years.

Based on research from theUS Department of Health and Human Services, the average cost of a semi-private roomin a nursing home is $205 per day, while a private roomcan cost approximately $230 per day. It is also worth mentioning that nursing home costs can besignificantly higher in certain regions. Assisted living and home health aidsbegin at an hourly rate of $21 and provide health and home care services in blocks of two or four-hour visits, with higher fees on evenings, weekends, and holidays.

Long-term care insurance is rather different from traditional medical insurance, as with long-term care policies there is greater coverage ensured. Once you have done your calculations you will be readily able to identify your care needs, which can be helpful when comparing quotes from different insurance companies.

Isurance quotes can vary significantly in how much a policy will pay per day, while other companies may have caps on lifetime limits or certain waiting periods before the insurance is eligible for use. Usually, there is no age restriction for long-term care insurance but it is recommended to seek insurance before the age of 50 to avoid any unwanted difficulties; as insurance companies tend to offer more favorable policies for the younger generation.

It is important to be armed with the proper knowledge of your individual needs prior to seeking out the policy that is best for you. In order to use the long-term care calculator effectively, you should have some done preliminary research on your care provider options. This includes identifying the daily costs of care in your area and the length of time the care will be required. This calculator will also require basic information about your financial situation and the funds that you currently have available.

When this information is added to the long-term care calculator, you will be given both the annual and total costs of long-term care using integrated graphs and detailed tables to assist in your understanding.

The long-term care calculator is particularly accurate in calculating the costs of care because it also factors in economic inflation. Long-term care costs have shown to outpace current economic inflation rates with annual price increases around 4.19%, as of 2017, and thus may be subject to further change. Therefore, it is best to discuss potential changes in the cost of care with your care provider directly. So if the information provided is correct you can rely on this calculator with certainty.

Even with accurate calculations, there are many intricacies and possible difficulties in obtaining long-term insurance coverage. Thus, this calculator does not guarantee that your situation may be eligible to receive benefits.

It is very easy to use the long-term care calculator, provided you can say with certainty your estimated daily cost of care.

1. You simply add this information to the first line of the calculator using the up or down arrows to make this selection even easier. As mentioned previously, different care facilities and providers will have different rates and fees, therefore you may choose to do multiple calculations to compare your options.

2. On the second line of the calculator, you may include any funds currently available . This is the total existing amount that you have saved towards long-term care needs – but should not include other savings required to fund your retirement. You may leave this field at a value of zero if you do not wish to contribute any of your retirement savings.

3. On the third line of the calculator is the expectedinflation rate, as expressed by a percentage. This refers to any anticipated rate increases for long-term care costs which may be conveyed by the care facility or provider.

4. Finally, you should addyears of care to the fourth line of the calculator. This is the anticipated number of years you predict requiring long-term care and will vary greatly by circumstance.

Once you have added these details you will be given some important information to the right of the calculator inputs where you may find your estimated total need and your estimated unprotected need.

Yourestimated total needsummarizes the total costs of care according to the full length of time the care is needed, and is then adjusted according to the specified inflation rate; While theestimated unprotected needrefers the amount of funds still needed for the long term care, after allocating any funds currently available

Underneath the calculator inputs is an estimated annual long-term care cost , which provides a quick reference to the yearly cost of the care being sought.

More comprehensive material may be found in the first tab underneath the information fields calledannual cost of long term care, where you will receive a visual guide of the rising costs of long term care over the specified years of care. This is helpful for understanding the deviation of costs due to the rate of inflation.

The estimated annual coststab offers further insight into the fluctuating annual costs of long term care, while referencing the funds currently available. Here you may see how far your savings will go to ensure proper long-term care and at which point you may need assistance with the expenses.