Many people looking at long-term care insurance seem to focus mainly on current costs of care. But the cost of long-term care services are constantly going up whether its home or facility care.

That is why a very important ingredient of any serious long-term care plan is to make sure that the funds allocated for care constantly rise to offset inflation in the industry.

Most long-term care insurance policies allow for an inflation benefit that provides additional coverage as the policyholder ages. It costs more to have this built into the policy at inception but without this provision it is very easy to fall steadily behind the actual costs of care with each year that goes by. Eventually, if the policy is held long enough before a claim is made the benefits can almost become meaningless or at least contribute very little toward the actual financial need.

Here is an article that discusses the rising cost of care and makes some interesting projections for the future:

You can read the article here.