Here in Arizona, you have a multitude of options when it comes to long term care insurance plans. Sometimes these plans are simply called LTC plans. Mutual of Omaha, John Hancock, MetLife and Genworth are just a few of the major long term care insurance companies that offer policies in Arizona.

Below you’ll find an image with data provided by MetLife. It shows what the average daily costs are for nursing homes here in Arizona. The average daily cost for long term care in Phoenix, as of 2009, is $212 per day, or $6,360 per month. In Tucson, the daily cost is even higher, at an average of $221, or $6,630 per month, or more than $79,000 per year. These rates are for a private room. If you share a room with someone else, the daily rate in Phoenix is $169; in Tucson the daily rate is $170 — $5,100 per month or over $61,000 per year.

One out of two Americans over the age of 65 end up needing long term care services. And, here’s a shocker — 44% of all people currently receiving long term care are UNDER the age of 65. Suppose you need long term care services one day — how would you pay for these high costs? Medicare only pays a very limited amount for long term care, and then only for a little while. Your health insurance policy will NOT pay for it. There are only a few ways to pay these high bills: (1) pay for them using your personal savings (which may dwindle your estate down to less than zero); (2) ask your children to pay them; (3) pay for them yourself as long as you have assets and income, and then when your assets have dwindled away, maybe Medicaid will pay. Are any of these good choices for you?

A long term care insurance policy costs less than you may think, and if you end up needing the benefits the policy would provide, you’ll find it to be invaluable. A 60-year-old married male living in Phoenix can purchase a policy that would give him $6000 per month in long term care benefits for around $2500 per year. The older you are, the more it will cost. On the other hand, the younger you are, the less it would cost.

To learn more about long term care plans, give Lehrman Group a call at (800) 600-9663, or click here to get premium rates. Simply complete the small form to request rates, or call us to explore all of the details regarding long term care policies. But do it before you require long term care benefits — no long term care insurance company will sell a policy to you once you need those benefits. That would be like trying to buy home owner’s insurance while your house is on fire.