Los Angeles, CA - June 10, 2008 - A 55-year-old individual considering long-term care insurance protection can expect to pay $709-per-year for a base level of protection if they are married or $1,095 if they are single according to the 2008 Long-Term Care Insurance Price Index published by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (www.AALTCI.org). Costs for coverage increased about four percent from the prior year.

The annual index measures current costs for top-selling long-term care insurance policies that offer consumers approximately $115,000 in current benefits (base-level coverage), with protection increasing yearly as the individual ages. "That coverage will grow in value to over $305,000 of protection in 20 years," explains Jesse Slome, Executive Director of the national trade organization that conducted the research. The study compares costs for plans that provide benefits for 3-years or longer with an annual compound inflation option that increases the available insurance benefits by five percent compounded each year.

"The analysis highlights the benefits of obtaining coverage at younger ages and taking advantage of discounts offered to those in good health as well as to couples," Slome explains. "Someone seeking protection equal to today’s average cost of care, about $55,000, would pay $1,064 a year for a policy purchased at age 55," he notes. Costs for long-term care insurance are priced to remain level throughout the life of the policy, though this is not guaranteed. "If that same person waited until age 65 and no longer qualified for a preferred health discount, they would pay $3,221 yearly to obtain an equal level of future protection." That assumes policy costs do not increase over the next 10 year time period.

2008 premium survey rates provided by LTCI Partners, LLC, Chicago, IL