Your recommendation for life and long term care insurance?

[AliInKY]

As my husband and I continue to work on dialing in the early retirement date, my biggest concern continues to be healthcare costs. 

Over the past few years we've unfortunately had a front row seat to what can happen if a loved one doesn't have adequate healthcare coverage, long term care insurance or life insurance.  We've also seen what can happen when you ARE well prepared and your family doesn't have to worry.

We want each other to be well taken care of in the event of an unexpected early death.  (We each have some coverage through our employers but want more.)  We don't want to leave each other in medical bankruptcy due to a catastrophic illness leading to major medical bills, or if a car accident or stroke leaves one of us in a position to require long term skilled care.

We have no children.  If our parents and siblings are gone before we are, our estates will go to our favorite charities. 

Any recommendations for reputable providers who can cover our various concerns? 

[FLA]

for life insurance, I like Amica term

the other things, IMHO, there is a lot to be done.  Depending on how old you are, you might want certain assets in a trust in someone else's name so you do not lose that part of your estate if you both end up in nursing homes on Medicaid and they take the asset.  But there is a 7 yr waiting period (at least here) before the trust becomes safe from Medicaid. See an Elder Law attorney if you have not done this yet. Since you are donating to charities maybe you don't mind the loss of assets when the second person goes into a nursing home.  Still talk to attorney. 

Get a health care proxy form or MOLST for your  state.  Pick proxy and alternate, sign, witness and make multiple copies for all docs, shrink yours and your husbands down so you have each other's in an emergency. Proxy is very easy to fill out but it is worthless to assign someone decision making power and never having a conversation about what you would or would not want done.  Have the conversation no matter how old or young you are. 

As for long term care insurance, I have been a nurse for decades and helped people try to collect on these very, very costly policies.  I would do a ton of research, maybe the elder law attorney has advice, get nailed down exactly what you are paying for.  These companies' language is tricky and I have seen companies refuse to pay for aide time when a patient was bed bound, dying and totally dependent in care.  Trust me, you do not want these kinds of companies.  Get the best, figure out what you think you'll need and compare, ask questions, etc.  The Office of the Aging may be able to steer you to someone who can help with this.

[FLA]

oops, forgot to say, long term care insurance goes up each year, the sooner you get it, the better.  Good luck!

[roomtempmayo]

Bringing this old thread back up since we just bought term life, and we need to think about long term care.

Background: We both work, have a mortgage, and a two year old.  We're both 40.

Term Life

Both my wife and I have some life insurance through our employers, but not enough.

Insurance agents suggested 10x individual income as a coverage; we ended up going with 10x annual household expenses each.

There are quote aggregators around the internet, which is where we started.  Transamerica gave us a competitive quote without a physical exam.  Given that I've worked with them in the past, we went with them.

We went with 25 year coverage (until we're 65), and both of us together are <$100/mo.

The terms and amounts seemed somewhat arbitrary, so we talked about it over dinner and just went with what we were both comfortable with.  Our priorities were that it not be expensive, and that it be a significant chunk if either of us were to be alone in our working years before our daughter is fully launched.  We decided less than $100/mo qualified as cheap, and a decade's worth of expenses was a good chunk.

If you have a family and you're on the fence about term life: it's cheap, just do it.

Long Term Care

Long term care seems like the other issue we need to address, but haven't taken any action.  Has anyone been through this process?

[SeattleCPA]

Bringing this old thread back up since we just bought term life, and we need to think about long term care.

Background: We both work, have a mortgage, and a two year old.  We're both 40.

Term Life

Both my wife and I have some life insurance through our employers, but not enough.

Insurance agents suggested 10x individual income as a coverage; we ended up going with 10x annual household expenses each.

There are quote aggregators around the internet, which is where we started.  Transamerica gave us a competitive quote without a physical exam.  Given that I've worked with them in the past, we went with them.

We went with 25 year coverage (until we're 65), and both of us together are <$100/mo.

The terms and amounts seemed somewhat arbitrary, so we talked about it over dinner and just went with what we were both comfortable with.  Our priorities were that it not be expensive, and that it be a significant chunk if either of us were to be alone in our working years before our daughter is fully launched.  We decided less than $100/mo qualified as cheap, and a decade's worth of expenses was a good chunk.

If you have a family and you're on the fence about term life: it's cheap, just do it.

Long Term Care

Long term care seems like the other issue we need to address, but haven't taken any action.  Has anyone been through this process?

Your life insurance approach sounds really reasonable. FWIW, when I still had kids at home, I got a cheap term policy from AICPA. Eventually, probably way too late, I cancelled it. It didn't make sense once my wife wouldn't need my income if I died. (I.e.,. once you either don't work or don't need to work, you probably don't need life insurance proceeds to replace that income.)

With regard to kids, always good to include SS survivors benefits in the calculation.

With regard to long-term care, probably good to consider the possibility you guys can self-insure that risk. I think Jim Dahle who blogs as the whitecoatinvestor and not only understands the dollars but also healthcare threw out a number like $1.5M as being the net worth threshold where you probably could self-insure this risk.