What Is a Long-Term Care Rider?

A long-term care rider is an addition to your life insurance po🅺licy that lets you use some of the death benefit while you’re alive to pay for long-term care. To use it, a medical provider must confirm you need help with everyday activities, like bathing or dressing, or that you need constant care because of a cognitive condition like Alzheimer’s.

At some point, around 60% of people in the U.S. will need help with everyday things like cooking, getting dressed, or making it to medical appointments. That kind of care can get expensive and isn’t covered by Medicare, often forcing people to choose between using their retirement savings, going into debt, or turning to family for help. Adding a long-term care rider to youജr life insurance policy can help ease t🐈hat burden by covering costs for things like cleaning services or adult day care services.

How a Long-Term Care Rider Works

Long-term care insurance, w♏hether as a separate policy or as a rider, helps pay for care if you can’t do two or more activities of daily living, such as:

• Bathing
• Dressing
• Eating
• Using the bathroom
• Traveling to and from the doctor

It also kicks in if you have a severe cognitive condition, like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease, and need constant supervision for your safety. These kinds of needs often come up after a significant health event, such as a stroke, surgery, or the progression of a chronic illness. Care in these situations can be costly, espec🅷ially if you need around-the-clock care. Some of the things covered by your long-term care rider may include:

• Adult day care services for supervised care during the day
• Assistance with daily tasks like bathing, dressing, or eating
• Hospice care for comfort and support at the end of life
• Respite care to give family caregivers a temporary break
• Skilled nursing care for medical needs in a licensed facility or at home

Like a traditional 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:long-term care policy, a rider usually has a waiting period before benefits begin, with most policies offering a 3🔜0-, 60-, or 90-day waiting period. The money you get from the rider is taken from your life insurance policy’s death benefit, so your loved ones will receive a smaller payout when you die. 

A long-term care rider usually lets you take a set percentage—typically between 1% to 4%—of your 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:death benefit each month, up to a lifetime limit. These are a few ways these p🦋olicies let you pay out benefits:

• Some policies cover your long-term care costs up to a daily limit until you reach the lifetime cap. 
• Others give you a fixed cash amount each day you qualify for care, even if you don’t use paid services that day. These “cash disability” options offer more flexibility, but they can also cost more.

Money paid out from your long-term care rider is usually not taxed. And while you might be able to deduct the premiums for a standalone long-term care insurance policy on your taxes, you usually can’t deduct the payments for a long-term care rider added to your life insurance policy.

Is a Long-Term Care Rider Right for You?

Adding a long-term care rider to your life insurance can increase your payments by as much as $600 to $800 a year, so it might not be the most affordable solution for everyone.

You may want to consider a long𒅌-term care rider if:

• You want to combine life insurance with long-term care coverage. That way, your beneficiaries receive a death benefit if long-term care isn’t needed. 
• You prefer the convenience of one insurance policy to cover long-term care and life insurance.

You may prefer a standalone long-term care insurance policy depending on your🍨 needs. These are a good choice if:

• You only want to pay for long-term care insurance, not life insurance.
• You want the flexibility to choose your coverage amount, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:benefit period, and elimination period.
• You want 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:inflation protection to increase your benefits over time.

There are multiple insurance companies that offer long-term care insurance and long-term care riders for l🍎ife insurance policies, including Mutual of Omaha, Nationwide, and USAA. 

Bottom Line

A long-term care rider can be a valuable addition to your life insurance policy, offering financial support when you need it most. Although pricey, adding an LTC rider could be a more affordable option than taking out a standalone long-term care policy, and it protects you financially by accessing a portion of your death benefit to cover long-term car꧅e expenses, helping to ease the burden of paying for necessary care. Long-term care riders provide double peace of mind, as you’ll still have life insurance coverage to benefit your loved ones if you die while the policy is active.