Long-Term Care Insurance Calculator
Estimate the cost of long-term care insurance and your potential lifetime benefit based on age, benefit amount, and coverage period.
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How to use this calculator
- 1
Enter your current age and gender — premiums rise significantly with age and are typically higher for women.
- 2
Set the daily benefit amount you want to model; local care costs vary widely, so check what care costs where you live.
- 3
Choose your benefit period — 3 years covers the average LTC claim duration.
- 4
Add inflation protection if you plan to hold the policy for many years before needing it.
Frequently asked questions
What formula produces the annual premium?
This tool takes a base annual premium per $100 of daily benefit for your gender and age bracket, multiplies it by the daily benefit divided by 100, and then applies four multipliers: benefit period, elimination period, inflation option and health. A 55-year-old man at $200 a day on the defaults is 1,700 × 2 × 1.00 × 1.00 × 1.45 × 1.00 = $4,930 a year, or $411 a month.
How are ages grouped?
Ages are put into five brackets that use the base table: 47 and under use the age-45 figure, 48 to 52 use 50, 53 to 57 use 55, 58 to 62 use 60, and 63 and over use 65. A 30-year-old therefore gets the same base as a 45-year-old, and a 75-year-old the same as a 65-year-old.
What does the benefit period option do?
It changes the premium multiplier (2 years ×0.78, 3 years ×1.00, 5 years ×1.35, unlimited ×2.10) and the benefit pool, which is daily benefit × 365 × years. The 3-year default gives $200 × 1,095 days = $219,000. The unlimited choice shows “Unlimited” for the pool.
Does the pool grow with inflation protection?
No. The inflation option only raises the premium (none ×1.00, 3% ×1.45, 5% ×1.95). The maximum benefit pool displayed is the starting amount, not a projection of how an inflation rider would increase benefits over time.
What do the elimination period and health status do?
The waiting period is a premium multiplier only (30 days ×1.22, 60 ×1.10, 90 ×1.00, 180 ×0.88). Health status is also just a multiplier: excellent ×0.88, good ×1.00 and fair ×1.30. The tool does not decide whether anyone would be accepted or declined; underwriting is the insurer’s decision.
What is the “lifetime premiums” figure?
It is the annual premium multiplied by the years between your current age and 80, with a minimum of one year. At age 55 that is 25 years, so $4,930 becomes $123,250. It assumes the premium never changes, which real policies may not do.
What is missing from the estimate?
There is no modelling of what care costs, how likely a claim is, policy riders, joint or couple discounts, hybrid products, the tax treatment of premiums, or whether benefits would be enough. Premiums come from a base table coded into the tool and are illustrations, not quotes.
Can multiple options make the premium very large?
Yes, because the multipliers compound. A 62-year-old woman choosing $250 a day, unlimited benefits, a 30-day wait, 5% inflation and fair health produces $63,323 a year in this model. A licensed agent or the insurer governs what a real policy would cost or whether it is available.
Long-term care premium estimate — base table with stacked multipliers
How the estimate is assembled
The calculator looks up a base annual premium for each $100 of daily benefit by gender and age bracket, then scales it to the daily benefit you enter. Four multipliers follow: the benefit period, the waiting period before benefits start, the inflation option and the health status. The maximum pool is shown separately as daily benefit times the number of days in the benefit period, and a total of premiums paid to age 80 is added for context.
The base premium table
These are the annual premiums per $100 of daily benefit the code starts from. They apply before any multiplier, and the tool uses the bracket that contains your age rather than interpolating, so your age moves the base in steps.
| Age bracket used | Applies to ages | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | 47 and under | $900 | $1,500 |
| 50 | 48 to 52 | $1,175 | $2,025 |
| 55 | 53 to 57 | $1,700 | $2,700 |
| 60 | 58 to 62 | $2,375 | $3,900 |
| 65 | 63 and over | $3,750 | $5,800 |
Four runs with their outputs
A 55-year-old man with $200 a day, a 3-year period, a 90-day wait, 3% inflation and good health shows $4,930 a year ($411 a month), a pool of $219,000 and $123,250 of premiums to age 80. A 45-year-old man with $150 a day, a 2-year period, a 180-day wait, no inflation and excellent health shows $815 a year with a $109,500 pool and $28,525 to age 80. A 48-year-old woman on the defaults moves to the age-50 base and shows $5,873 a year. A 67-year-old man on the defaults shows $10,875 a year, using the age-65 base.
Why options compound
Because each setting multiplies rather than adds, choosing several expensive options together raises the result faster than any single one would. The inflation choice alone changes the premium by ×1.45 or ×1.95, and the unlimited period by ×2.10. Comparing otherwise identical runs while changing only one dropdown is the clearest way to see each option’s weight in the model.
Limits of the model
The figures are the tool’s own base table and multipliers, so treat them as estimates rather than prices from any insurer. Eligibility, underwriting, benefit triggers and policy terms are set by the insurer and the policy contract, and a licensed agent can supply real quotes. The tool does not recommend buying coverage or estimate what care will cost.
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Results are estimates for informational purposes only and do not constitute professional financial, medical, legal, or technical advice. Read full disclaimer →