Hybrid Plans Can Help with the Rising Costs of Long-Term Care

A fiduciary with a Series 65 license, Darcy Bergen serves as the founder and a managing partner of Bergen Financial Group. Possessing extensive experience with risk management, income planning, and social security planning, Darcy Bergen assists clients with a wide variety of financial planning needs. 

As the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, many are facing the prospect of rising long-term care costs. The median cost of long-term care support services rose about three percent from 2017 to 2018, which exceeded the U.S. inflation rate, according to Genworth’s 15th Annual Cost of Care Survey. For example, the annual median cost for a home health aide is $50,336, while an assisted living facility costs approximately $48,000 per year, and a semi-private room in a nursing home costs nearly $90,000 per year. 

In order to afford the expense of long-term health care, many retirees are looking into hybrid whole life, hybrid indexed universal life (IUL), and hybrid annuities as alternatives to stand-along long-term care policies. Hybrid policies are less restrictive and don’t usually have a “use it or lose it” approach to benefits. In fact, some hybrid policies offer a death benefit if the policyholder does not use the long-term care benefits.