WILL I NEED IT?   If you are lucky you won’t but statistics tell us that 43% of us will need it at some point in our lives.  Compare that to your home insurance where the likelihood of your home being destroyed is 1200:1 and yet few of us want to take the risk of losing our homes in a catastrophic event.    When we really sit down to think about it, a health event or accident can be even more devastating because the cost is open-ended. Often we don’t know when long term care will stop being needed. It could be a few months to many years.   Would you feel comfortable writing a check for $6,000 this month if you or your spouse needed care?  Would you feel comfortable writing a check for $6,000 a month for 6 months?  What about one year? Two years?  At two years you will have spent $144,000. Long Term Care Insurance transfers that risk to the insurance company. You are simply buying a pool of money to draw from when you need it. If you choose inflation protection, that pool will grow over time.   WON’T MEDICARE PAY FOR THIS? The following criteria must be met in order for Medicare to pay for any of your long-term care bills.          You must have a hospital stay of three consecutive days (not counting the day of discharge).           You must be admitted to a nursing facility for the same illness you were hospitalized for within 30 days of discharge.           Medicare covers only skilled care or rehabilitative care given in a certified skilled nursing facility or in your home. Custodial Care is not covered when that is the only kind of care you need.          You must be certified by a medical professional that you need skilled nursing or rehabilitative services daily. How Much Will Medicare Pay for a Nursing Facility in 2007?   Days 1-20: Medicare pays 100%, provided that you are receiving daily skilled care.   Days 21-100: You pay the first $124 per day, and Medicare will pay  the balance.  Days 101+: Medicare pays nothing.