Personal lines · independent broker
Traditional long-term care.
Standalone LTC policies. Premiums can rise over time (carriers have raised rates historically). Pure LTC protection — no death benefit if unused. Still the right answer for some situations.
What it is.
Traditional LTC is pure long-term-care insurance — no life insurance component, no death benefit if unused. Premium-pay structure with a daily benefit and lifetime maximum chosen at issue. Carriers have historically raised premiums on existing policies; that's the trade-off for cheaper initial cost vs hybrid policies.
The lines in your policy.
Each one is its own knob. The carrier's default rarely fits a real life.
What a claim looks like.
Three anonymized files. Numbers are illustrative.
55-year-old, healthy, buys $200/day daily benefit with 5-year benefit period and 3% compound inflation rider. Premium ~$2,800/yr at issue (illustrative; varies by health and carrier). Premium paid annually until claim. By age 80, daily benefit has compounded to ~$420/day; total available pool ~$770K. If she needs 3 years of assisted living starting at 82, the policy pays roughly $700K of care over those 3 years. If she never needs care, she'll have paid premiums for 25–30+ years with nothing returned — that's the trade-off. (Illustrative.)
How to read a traditional policy.
The four things worth looking for on the dec page, in the order we read them.
The first page tells you who's actually covered, on what address, and under whose legal entity. A surprising number of policies have the wrong name, the wrong address, or a missing additional insured, and you don't find out until you file a claim. Cross-check it against your driver's license, your title or lease, and any contract that requires you to be insured.
Policy limits are abstract until you stack them against the assets they protect. A $300k liability limit feels generous in isolation; against a $1.2M home and a college fund, it isn't. Walk down each numbered line on your dec page and ask: if this were the cap on the worst day, would I be okay?
Page one shows you the base form. Pages four through twelve show you what the endorsements added, and, more importantly, what they took away. Water-damage exclusions, roof-payment schedules, named-storm deductibles, scheduled-valuables caps. These small numbered forms decide more claims than the headline limits do.
Carriers re-rate, re-form, and re-endorse policies at every renewal. If you keep last year's dec page, a side-by-side read takes ten minutes and tells you which limits drifted, which sublimits got cut, and which endorsements quietly disappeared. It's the single most useful habit in personal insurance.
Frequently asked questions.
Why have premiums increased on existing LTC policies?
Carriers underestimated longevity, lapse rates, and care costs when LTC products were first issued in the 1990s and 2000s. Many existing block of business has been re-rated upward — sometimes 30–80% — with state regulator approval. This is the structural risk of traditional LTC: premium isn't guaranteed.
What's the 'partnership program' and why does it matter?
Many states (including KS and MO) offer LTC Partnership policies — qualifying coverage gives Medicaid asset protection equal to the policy benefits paid. If you exhaust a $300K Partnership LTC policy and apply for Medicaid, your state shields $300K of personal assets from spend-down. Useful for asset preservation planning.
How do I size the daily benefit?
Look up local care costs. KC-area assisted living runs $5,000–$7,500/month in 2026 dollars (~$170–$250/day). Pick a daily benefit at the high end of current costs and add inflation protection — care costs in 20 years will be 80–120% higher than today.
What's the right benefit period?
Average LTC stay is ~3 years, but the distribution is long-tailed. 5-year benefit periods are popular as they cover ~85% of stays. Unlimited periods exist but are expensive — usually only worth it for buyers with strong family history of dementia or extended decline.
Why is the elimination period 90 days standard?
Trades premium for self-funding the first 3 months of care. Shorter elimination periods (30 days) raise premium meaningfully. Most buyers can fund 90 days from savings; longer than that is what insurance is for.
What's the alternative to traditional LTC?
Hybrid life/LTC policies — combine life insurance and LTC into one structure with no 'use it or lose it' downside. Hybrid is more capital-intensive upfront (single premium or 10-pay) but eliminates the rate-increase risk. We typically quote both side-by-side and let you choose based on cash flow vs lump sum preference.
Want a second read on your traditional policy?
Send us your declarations page. You'll get it back marked up, in plain language, with the gaps and the over-coverage flagged, yours to keep, no obligation to switch.
or phone (913) 408-7280
We're an independent broker. We represent you, not the carrier , paid by the carrier we ultimately place with, but accountable only to the person whose name is on the policy. Read more about how we work.