Mills Shellhammer Puetz & Associates, 2nd Quarter Newsletter, 2006 Pages 1 & 2- Click to download, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader Mills Shellhammer Puetz & Associates, Personal Perspectives Newsletter Click Here to View Keep your golden years golden About 500,000 Americans a year buy long-term care insurance. However, only 40% buy an inflation-adjusting policy that automatically increases the benefit amount by 5% each year to account for rising nursing home costs. Why is this important? Most long-term care policies specify a dollar amount for your long-term benefits. So, if the cost of one day in a nursing facility is $100 today, you should realize that the price of services will change with time and inflation. For example, with costs rising about 7% per year in California, just one day in a nursing home could cost $569 by 2023, according to a study on the costs of long-term care conducted by the California Partnership for Long Term Care. Policies with an inflation-adjustment feature are costlier—often by twice as much as those without protection. However, buying the less pricey alternative today could cost you far more later. Give us a call to help you decide.