Long-Term Care Insurance Calculator
Using 2025 average costs, find the real dollar gap between what care would cost and what you already have covered.
Your care scenario
Based on the 2025 Genworth Cost of Care Survey national medians.
Funding Gap
$223,200
Total estimated cost: $223,200
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A Cost Most Retirement Plans Miss
Long-term care is one of the largest uninsured risks in retirement planning — Medicare doesn't cover it beyond a short post-hospital window, and Medicaid only steps in after most of a person's assets are spent down. This calculator uses current national average costs to show the real dollar size of that risk, and how much of it your existing savings and coverage already close.
2025 National Average Costs
| Care type | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Home health aide (full-time) | $55,000 |
| Assisted living | $74,400 |
| Nursing home, semi-private room | $114,975 |
| Nursing home, private room | $129,575 |
Costs are projected to keep rising 4-5% per year, so a gap calculated today will likely be larger by the time care is actually needed — a reason many planners recommend addressing this well before retirement, not during a crisis.
Ways to close the gap
- Traditional long-term care insurance
- Hybrid life insurance with an LTC rider
- Dedicated long-term care savings, kept separate from retirement funds
- Home equity, if downsizing or a reverse mortgage is part of the plan
What happens without a plan
- Assets get spent down until Medicaid eligibility is reached
- Family members often become unpaid caregivers
- Choices about care quality and location narrow significantly
Worth knowing: Traditional standalone long-term care insurance has become harder to find as fewer insurers offer it, which is why hybrid life insurance policies with an LTC rider have become a common alternative — see our Life Insurance Premium Calculator as a starting point for comparing costs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does long-term care cost?
Per the 2025 Genworth Cost of Care Survey, a full-time home health aide runs about $55,000/year, assisted living about $74,400/year, a semi-private nursing home room about $114,975/year, and a private nursing home room about $129,575/year.
Does Medicare pay for long-term care?
Only in narrow circumstances — Medicare covers short-term skilled nursing or rehab after a qualifying hospital stay, typically capped around 100 days, but it does not cover ongoing custodial long-term care like help with daily living activities.
How long does someone typically need long-term care?
Averages vary by study, but a commonly cited planning range is around 2-4 years, with women often needing longer care on average than men. Some people need none; others need it for a decade or more, which is exactly the unpredictable risk insurance is meant to pool.
What does Medicaid require before it pays for long-term care?
Medicaid does cover long-term care, but only after a person has spent down most of their countable assets to meet strict state income and asset limits — which is exactly the outcome long-term care insurance or dedicated savings are designed to help avoid.
Is long-term care insurance worth buying?
It depends on your assets and risk tolerance: those with too few assets to self-fund care may rely on Medicaid regardless, those with very high net worth can often self-fund, and the middle group — enough assets to lose, not enough to comfortably absorb a six-figure care cost — often benefits most from insurance or hybrid life/LTC policies.
What is hybrid life insurance with a long-term care rider?
A permanent life insurance policy that lets you access the death benefit early to pay for long-term care if needed, with any unused benefit still paying out to beneficiaries — a popular alternative to traditional standalone LTC insurance, which has seen fewer insurers offering it in recent years.
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