How can I choose among long term care insurance riders?

Insurance companies are now trying to distinguish themselves and their products from one another because of the large variety of long-term care insurance policies to choose from. One marketing strategy is to offer policies with a large list of discounts, riders, expanded benefits and other special features. Riders are basically additional coverage that you can choose from. Instead of purchasing a separate policy, riders are a good choice when wanting extra coverage. However, at times, people purchase either too much or too little protection, causing chaos. One of the most crucial riders to purchase is the home health care rider. With home health care, even if you are no longer able to care for yourself, you might be able to avoid going to an assisted living facility or a nursing home.

All policies have home health coverage "baked' into them, according to Kathleen Ligare, senior vice president with GE Financial Assurance's Long-Term Care Division in San Rafael, California. She believes that every policy should already include the home health care rider. However, most insurance companies only provide nursing home care and don't have home health care riders. There is also a return-of-premium rider is a type of nonforfeiture benefit. The return of some or all of your premiums, if the policy isn't used during your lifetime, will be available to your beneficiary or your estate.

If both spouses have coverage, a shared-benefit rider will let you extend the duration of your benefit. This is considered to be less expensive than buying two separate policies. Another rider than will be available for you to purchase is an inflation rider. This rider will make sure that your long-term care policy payments will be made in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, many states require for you to reject the inflation rider. The nonforfeiture benefit rider is often required for consumers of long-term care coverage to purchase. If you are purchasing a tax-qualified policy, this rider is required to be offered to you. Sadly, your premiums will probably increase by 40 percent with this rider.