Planning ahead is the best gift you can give your family.
I'm Giri Lankipalle, a California-based financial professional helping families plan for the cost of long-term care — before it becomes an emergency.
The retirement plan most families forget to build
Someone turning 65 today faces roughly a 70% chance of needing long-term care at some point — whether from age, a chronic condition, or an unexpected accident.1 Medicare only covers a short window of this kind of care, which leaves most families paying out of pocket. In-home care commonly runs $60,000 or more a year, and nursing home care often exceeds $110,000 a year in today's dollars.2
A long-term care plan isn't only about paying for care when the time comes — it's about protecting the assets you've spent a lifetime building, and leaving your family a legacy instead of a bill. It's one of the most overlooked pieces of a complete retirement plan, and one of the most important.
Video courtesy of and © Nationwide Financial. Used with credit to the copyright holder.
Three ways families typically fund long-term care
Traditional LTC insurance
Works much like a home or auto policy: you pay a premium, and coverage is there if you ever need services like home health aides or assisted living. If you never use it, premiums generally aren't refunded — similar to most other insurance types.
Hybrid LTC insurance
Combines long-term care coverage with a permanent life insurance policy. If you need care, the policy helps pay for it; if you don't, your beneficiaries typically receive a death benefit instead. Worth discussing your family health history with your doctor first.
LTC via a life insurance rider
Adds a long-term care rider to a universal life policy, letting you access part of the death benefit early to help pay for care later in life — without a stand-alone LTC policy.
A wide, well-documented gap
That gap — between how many people will likely need care and how few have a plan for it — is worth a serious, unhurried look at your own situation.
Your first consultation is on me
A clear-eyed conversation about your situation, your family, and what a plan could look like — no pressure attached.
Schedule It TodayCalifornia LTC regulation & resources
Long-term care in California is shaped by a mix of state task forces, public partnerships, and federal programs. These are the primary official sources worth knowing about.
Long-Term Care Insurance Task Force
Established under California AB 567, this task force within the California Department of Insurance studies the feasibility of a culturally competent, statewide long-term care program.
California Partnership for Long-Term Care
A program of the California Department of Health Care Services, run in cooperation with a select group of private insurers offering policies that meet strict state-set standards.
DHCS — Long-Term Care Alternatives
Covers home and community-based care choices that can help people with disabilities avoid unnecessary institutional care.
Medicare — Long-Term Care
The official U.S. government resource explaining what Medicare does and doesn't cover when it comes to long-term care.
NAIC — Long-Term Care Insurance
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners' consumer resource on long-term care insurance topics nationwide.
California LTC news & updates
Long-term care policy in California continues to evolve, including ongoing conversations about a potential statewide program. Here are a few useful reads.
Want to Opt Out of the Long-Term Care Tax?
California Broker Magazine · April 2023
Update on California's Plan to Enact a Statewide LTC Program
Keenan & Associates · August 2023
A Public Long-Term Care Insurance Program?
By Louis H. Brownstone · California Long-Term Care
California Long-Term Care Resources
State-specific information on costs, taxes, rules, and care options for California residents.
LTC videos & caregiving stories
Numbers tell part of the story — these families' experiences tell the rest.
Thomas & Lorene's story
High school sweethearts who cared for their own parents, and later planned ahead so their own children wouldn't carry the same strain.
Cheryl's story
An active caregiver for her mother at home, until her mother's needs grew beyond what home care alone could provide.
Lisa's story
A professional in-home care provider who found that caring for her own mother after surgery was a different kind of responsibility altogether.
Videos courtesy of and © Nationwide Financial. Used here with credit to the copyright holder. Want to watch more? View the complete video library →
LTC 101: What It Costs, and Why It's Worth Planning For Now
A plain-language guide to long-term care — what it costs in today's dollars, and how families are planning ahead.
What "long-term care" actually means
Help with the everyday tasks of living — bathing, dressing, eating, moving around, managing medication — when illness, injury, or age makes them difficult to do alone. It's not the same as a hospital stay, and it's rarely covered by Medicare beyond a short window.
Care at home
Where most long-term care actually begins and often continues.4
Community-based care
Adult day programs for people who are largely independent but benefit from daytime support.
Facility care
Assisted living or nursing home care for higher levels of support that can't be managed at home.
Closer to a coin flip than most people think
What care costs today
2025 national median figures. California and other high-cost states typically run higher.5
| Type of care | Typical rate | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|
| In-home caregiver (non-medical) | $35 / hour | ~$80,000 |
| Adult day health care | $95 / day | ~$34,700 |
| Assisted living community | $6,200 / month | ~$74,400 |
| Nursing home, semi-private room | $315 / day | ~$114,975 |
| Nursing home, private room | $355 / day | ~$129,575 |
Actual costs vary significantly by region, provider, and level of need.
The part families in our community often miss
Many of us grew up assuming care for aging parents is simply a family responsibility. But when parents are overseas, or adult children are building careers here in the US, the informal "we'll figure it out" plan runs into real limits: distance, visas, careers that can't pause, and costs that land in dollars. Planning ahead doesn't replace family care — it protects your ability to keep providing it.
Long-term care planning isn't just about one person — it's about the whole family across generations, wherever they live.
How families typically pay for it
Self-funding from savings
Full flexibility, but can draw down retirement savings quickly — a private room can run well over $10,000 a month.
Medicaid
A safety net for those who qualify, but requires spending down most household assets first, and limits choice of care setting.6
Insurance-based planning
Standalone or life-insurance-linked strategies that fund care costs, with unused benefits often passing on as a legacy. Cost and structure vary by carrier, age, and health.
LTC 101: The Guide to Long-Term Care Planning
A free, no-obligation e-book that walks through everything on this page in more depth.
Watch: a 60-second breakdown of long-term care planning
A short video on why this topic matters so much for families like ours.
Four questions worth sitting with
You remember changing your children's diapers.
Do you want them to remember changing yours?
You may already have enough saved to cover your own care one day.
So why pay for it dollar for dollar, when the right plan can turn every $1 into $3–$4 of tax-free care dollars?7
You worked for years so your children could build a life without limits.
Don't let a missing plan force them to spend that life worrying about yours.
Many of us spent years worrying about a parent's care from thousands of miles away.
Without a plan, your own children may one day carry that same worry — about you.
7. Leverage refers to the ratio of premium paid to tax-free benefit dollars available for qualifying long-term care. Illustrative, not a guarantee — actual leverage depends on the policy, your age, health, underwriting class, and current tax law.
Sources
- Administration for Community Living, U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services — acl.gov and longtermcare.gov
- Medicare coverage limits for skilled nursing care — medicare.gov
- LIMRA industry data on long-term care insurance ownership
- National cost-of-care survey data & calculator — carescout.com/cost-of-care
- 2025 national median cost-of-care figures — carescout.com/cost-of-care
- Medicaid eligibility & long-term care alternatives — dhcs.ca.gov
- Leverage ratios for insurance-based LTC funding vary by carrier, product, and underwriting — figures are illustrative; review current, personalized illustrations with a licensed professional.
Feel free to get in touch — I'll get back to you
The best time to build a long-term care plan is before it's urgent. Reach out through any of the options below.
Connect directly
CA License: 0M66577
Schedule a free consultation →