As the November elections draw closer, citizens of America are hoping that the next leaders of the country will be those who advocate affordable healthcare because they dread current long term care costs which are expected to soar in the coming years.

According to a study which was conducted by Prudential, one of the major long term care insurance (LTCI) carriers, Americans 65 years old and older will double to 71 million in 2030 and 20% of this number will enter a nursing home at some point in their lives.

Unfortunately, a survey which the company conducted in 2010 revealed that 40% of adults believe that LTCI should be purchased when one has already past the age of 60. This is contrary to the advice of LTCI professionals that one should buy a policy while he is young and healthy. There are many 60-year-olds with preexisting conditions that is why majority of them were either declined by the insurance company or, if approved, they were required to pay a higher annual premium.

Without an LTCI policy it would be impossible for baby boomers to afford the cost of care in 2030 as it is foreboded to quadruple. At present it may be only Massachusetts, Hawaii, Alaska, New York, and Vermont that have six-figure annual rates for nursing homes, but come 2030 you won’t find a single U.S state that would offer nursing home care for an annual rate below $100,000.

Even the states in Southern U.S. that currently offer lower nursing home rates will join the bandwagon as the demand for LTC will increase at a great rate in the succeeding years.

Preparing for Long Term Care Costs

According to LTC experts and financial advisers, the cost of care is not going down anytime soon. What’s going to happen is the exact opposite so everybody should be armed with a plan that will help them make it through the country’s high cost of care.

Study the rates of LTC facilities in your area so that you can estimate how much you’ll need for LTC whether you’re planning to self-insure or to acquire LTCI coverage.

To be able to self-insure, however, financial advisers say you should have more than $2,000,000 in retirement savings. If your resources are not even close to this amount forget about paying out-of-pocket and secure an LTCI policy while you have time.

It would be easier for you to face the cost of care with an LTCI policy because in the planning stage you have already determined the type of care that you will require and its cost. Before buying a policy one would usually request LTCI quotes that feature the amount of his benefits and the duration in which he will receive insurance coverage.

Anybody who is too confident that he can manage the cost of care is putting his wealth at risk and it won’t take long before he ends up impoverished.

Take long term care costs seriously if you aspire to live a comfortable life after retirement and don’t want to be the cause of your family’s misery.