Long-Term Care Insurance Calculator

Age drives the premium through a steep, continuously interpolated base-rate curve -- the underlying table roughly triples the base rate between age 55 and age 70, and triples again by 85 -- while health status and inflation protection are flat multipliers applied on top of whatever that age-based base rate turns out to be. A 25-year age difference compounds through the entire interpolated curve, whereas choosing 3% compound inflation protection instead of none applies a single fixed 1.55x factor regardless of age, so age's effect dwarfs any single coverage-feature choice in the model.

The calculator applies a 1.85x multiplier for 5% compound inflation protection versus a 1.0x multiplier for no protection at all, an 85% increase in premium for that feature alone. That's the largest single swing among the four discrete coverage choices in the model, reflecting that compounding inflation protection is the most expensive rider to add to an LTC policy because it commits the insurer to a benefit that grows every year you hold the policy, not just at the moment you claim.

Compare it against both, for different purposes: the maximum benefit pool tells you the largest amount the policy could ever pay out, useful for judging value if you need the full benefit period, while the self-insurance target estimates what you'd need saved on your own by your likely claim age, assuming care costs keep compounding at 4% a year. If total premiums paid until a likely claim age come in well below the self-insurance target, the policy is doing real financial work; if premiums approach the benefit pool itself, self-funding may be the more efficient choice.

Yes, in this model -- a 0-day elimination period applies a 1.25x multiplier to the premium, the highest of the six elimination-period bands, while 180 days applies a 0.85x multiplier, the lowest before the 365-day band. That roughly 47% premium spread exists because a shorter elimination period means the insurer starts paying benefits sooner after a claim is filed, shifting more risk onto the carrier and less onto the policyholder, who would otherwise cover those early weeks of care out of pocket.