Interlinc Retirement Roadmap™ · N is for Nursing & Medical Care
What happens to your retirement if you need someone to care for you?
Seven in ten people turning 65 today will need help with the ordinary activities of a day — bathing, dressing, getting out of a chair. Almost no retirement plan we review has a line item for it.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "How Much Care Will You Need?", April 29, 2022.
A few minutes on why long-term care is the gap that quietly undoes an otherwise well-built retirement plan.
of people turning 65 today will need long-term care services at some point.
is what Medicare pays toward most long-term care. It was never designed to cover it.
carriers still write standalone long-term care policies, down from more than a hundred.
Where This Fits
Long-term care is the N in the Interlinc Retirement Roadmap™
Five critical areas, looked at together — because a decision in any one of them changes the other four. Nursing & Medical Care is where long-term care lives, and it's the area most plans leave blank.
Why it can't be solved by itself. How you handle care touches the other four. Self-funding ties up capital that could be producing income. Doing nothing leaves your estate to absorb the cost. And the account you fund it from changes your tax picture. That's the "linc" — these five don't sit in separate boxes, and a decision made in one of them without looking at the rest is how good plans come apart.
Most people end up with a different professional for each piece — someone for investments, someone for insurance, someone for taxes, someone for the estate documents — and no one holding the whole picture. We work across all five. We coordinate directly with your CPA and your estate attorney, and we sit in on those meetings so the decisions line up instead of pulling against each other.
Why This Matters
Most retirement plans have the same blind spot.
Medicare won't cover it
Medicare pays for short-term skilled nursing only, and only after a qualifying hospital stay. Custodial care — help with the ordinary activities of a day — is almost entirely out of pocket.
The market has shrunk
Traditional long-term care insurance has become unaffordable or unavailable for many. Fewer than fifteen carriers are still writing it, and premiums on old policies keep getting raised.
Costs keep climbing
A private room in a skilled nursing facility now runs past $129,000 a year nationally, and care costs have historically outpaced general inflation.
Assets are exposed
Without a plan, one care event can drain savings built over decades — and the fallback is usually a spouse or an adult child, at a cost that isn't only financial.
And it usually doesn't start with old age. It starts with one of these.
A fall
Injury and recuperation following a fall or accident — the most common way an independent person becomes a person who needs help, often overnight.
Cognitive decline
Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, where the body may remain healthy for years while supervision becomes constant.
Chronic illness
Cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and mental illness — conditions people live with, and need help living with.
Costs are not the same everywhere. A private room in Texas and a private room in Connecticut are two very different numbers.
Find the cost of care in your ZIP codeLong-term care need: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "How Much Care Will You Need?", April 29, 2022. Cost of care: CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2025, released March 2026. Carrier count and premium data: SmartAsset, January 2025; LTC Tree, January 2025; Milliman, March 2025.
We've sat across the table from people who did everything right. Saved. Invested. Stayed disciplined for thirty years. Then one health event rewrote the whole plan — not because they failed to plan, but because no one ever walked them through this particular gap.Steve MeeksOwner, Interlinc Financial Advisors
Cost of Care
What does care actually cost where you live?
Before you look at any solution, it's worth knowing the size of the problem. Enter your ZIP code to see the published median cost of care where you live — care costs in Texas and care costs in Connecticut are not remotely the same number.
Figures are the published state-level annual medians from the CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2025, released March 2026, matched to your ZIP code by state. State medians are not metro-specific and a given community may cost considerably more or less; for the survey's own metro-level tool, see CareScout's Cost of Care Survey. Where a state median was not published for a care type, the national median is shown. CareScout and Genworth are not affiliated with, and do not endorse, Interlinc Financial Advisors, Inc.
That's the bill. Now look at what a lump sum you already own could cover against it.
See what a lump sum could coverYour Options
There are only four ways to pay that bill.
Everyone lands on one of these, whether they choose it deliberately or arrive at it by default. Here's the honest case for and against each.
What's good about it
Complete flexibility. Nothing to buy, no underwriting, no fees, and if care is never needed the money simply stays in your estate.
The trade-offs
You are self-insuring a cost you cannot cap. Look at the number in the estimator above — that capital has to sit liquid and conservatively invested for decades, which drags on the income it could otherwise produce. And it's the spouse who doesn't need care who usually feels it first.
What's good about it
It is purpose-built for the risk, and dollar for dollar of benefit it is often the cheapest way to transfer it. Some policies still offer strong inflation protection.
The trade-offs
Premiums are payable for life and can be raised on you. Underwriting is real, and health issues get you declined. Fewer than fifteen carriers remain. And the objection we hear most: if you never file a claim, every dollar you paid is gone.
What's good about it
It exists, and for people without assets it is the safety net. It covers nursing facility care once you qualify.
The trade-offs
You have to be nearly broke to qualify, there is a five-year look-back on gifts and transfers, your choice of facility narrows sharply, and the state may seek recovery from your estate afterward. This is not a plan. It's what happens when there isn't one.
What's good about it
A category of contract exists that turns a lump sum you already have — often idle cash, a CD, an old annuity carrying a gain, or a life insurance policy with cash value you no longer need — into a pool of long-term care dollars several times its size, while leaving the money yours. No claim, no loss: the value passes to your heirs. Qualifying is far easier than traditional underwriting, benefits are contractual, and the care dollars are generally received income-tax-free.
The trade-offs
The full benefit isn't available on day one. Care benefits vest over the first five contract years, so a claim early on pays a portion of the pool rather than all of it — which is a reason to put this in place before it's needed, not after. And the amount of leverage you get depends entirely on your age and your health class. This is the part that requires a conversation.
You may be wondering why we haven't named a product. It's because the right answer isn't a product — it's whichever of these four genuinely fits your situation. We've helped clients into all four, including choosing to self-fund on purpose. When we sit down together, we'll walk you through the specific contract, the company behind it — along with why it may make more sense for you than the other three.
The Three Objections
Every objection you have is the right one to have.
These are the three things people say in our office, almost word for word. They are not obstacles to get past. They are the exact reasons the traditional answer stopped working for so many families — and the reasons a different approach exists.
“It's too expensive. I can't add another premium at this stage of life.”
Objection one
You're not spending money. You're moving it.
Traditional long-term care insurance asks you to write a check every year for the rest of your life — and to keep writing it after the carrier raises the rate on you at eighty, when you have no good options left.
This works differently. You reposition a lump sum you already own — idle cash earning nothing, a CD you keep rolling over, an old annuity you've half forgotten about, or an old life insurance policy with cash value you no longer need. The money moves from one place to another. Your balance sheet the day after looks essentially like it did the day before. What changes is how much that same money can pay for if care is ever needed.
There is no new annual premium in your budget. That is the entire point.
“And what if I never need it? Then the insurance company just keeps my money.”
Objection two
If you never need care, the money goes to your family.
This objection has stopped more good plans than cost ever did — and about traditional policies, it is completely correct. Pay premiums faithfully for twenty-five years, then die peacefully in your sleep at ninety, and every dollar you paid stays with the insurance company. Your children get nothing for it.
Here the money never stops being yours. Need care? That's what it's for — and the care dollars are generally received income-tax-free, so a benefit of $9,000 a month is $9,000 a month, not what's left after tax.† Never need it? The value passes to your beneficiaries as a death benefit. Need it for something else in retirement? You have access to the contract value, subject to the terms and any charges that apply.†
Three doors. There is no door where you paid for nothing.
“What if I apply and they turn me down for my health?”
Objection three
Acceptance is guaranteed through age 80.
Traditional long-term care underwriting is unforgiving. People get declined for conditions they recovered from a decade ago, for medications they no longer take, for a single line in a chart. And a decline doesn't just cost you that policy — it follows you onto the next application.
There is no medical exam, no blood work, no lab test, no records request and no attending physician's statement. Qualification is a video interview of about thirty minutes that you do from your own living room, at a time you choose.
And the interview is not a gate — it can only help you. Acceptance is guaranteed through age eighty either way.† What the conversation does is place you in one of three health classes, and the class you land in decides how far your dollars stretch: the healthier you are, the larger the pool of care dollars your contribution creates.
If you have been declined before, or you assumed you would be and never bothered applying, that paragraph is worth reading twice.
That's the whole idea in three sentences. You move money you already have. If care never comes, your family gets it. And your health can't disqualify you. What it costs, how much leverage your particular dollars earn, and whether it beats simply self-funding — those depend on your age, your state and your situation, and that's what the twenty minutes is for.
Start with the number you'd actually be covering — what care costs where you live.
See the cost of care in my ZIP code† Acceptance through age 80 is subject to annuity suitability requirements; issue ages, features and availability vary by state and by issuing company. Access to contract value may be limited and may be subject to surrender charges, a market value adjustment, ordinary income tax and, before age 59½, an additional 10% IRS penalty tax; withdrawals reduce the death benefit and the long-term care benefit available. Benefits are not available immediately in full and may be subject to a vesting schedule. Any guarantees are backed solely by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. This is a general description of an approach, not an offer of any specific contract.
Benefit Estimator
Now the other side of the ledger.
You've seen what care could cost. This shows what a lump sum you already own could turn into — a pool of long-term care dollars several times its size, paid to you monthly if care is ever needed, and passed to your family if it isn't.
Minimum contribution is $50,000.
Monthly tax-free care benefit†
every month, for up to 60 months
Total tax-free lifetime care benefit
† Benefits paid for qualified long-term care services are generally received income-tax-free under Internal Revenue Code Section 7702B, subject to the per-diem limits established by the IRS. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances; consult your own tax advisor.
Estimate only, for illustration, and not a quote or an offer of coverage. Assumes a single lump sum with no additional deposits and no withdrawals, and excludes rider and program fees and wellness credits. Benefits vest over the first five contract years at 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% then 100%; vesting applies to the Benefit Base less the Accumulation Value, and Accumulation Value is approximated here by the amount contributed. Benefit-base growth is capped at twenty years from issue; a claim filed later produces the same benefit base as one filed at year twenty. Coverage ratios vary by issue age, health class and state, and differ where an inflation option is elected. Growth shown is a contractual roll-up of the benefit base, not an investment return, and is not the growth of your account value. Amounts passing to heirs are the contract value less any benefits paid and charges incurred. Any guarantees are backed solely by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Your actual figures come from a proposal prepared for you.
Do Your Homework
Nine questions to ask before you sign anything.
Ask us. Ask the advisor down the street. Ask whoever brings you a solution. Anything that sounds like it has no downside has a downside somewhere, and these questions are how you find it.
1. What happens to my money if I never need care?
This is the question that stops most people from acting, and it deserves a straight answer. Some approaches return nothing. Some return your principal to your heirs. Some return more than you put in. Make whoever is across the table tell you which one this is, in dollars, on paper.
2. Can the premium or cost be raised on me later?
Traditional policies can be, and have been — sometimes by a lot, on people in their eighties with no good options. Single-premium approaches can't be. This distinction is worth more than most of the features you'll be shown.
3. What exactly triggers a claim — and who decides?
The standard is being unable to perform two of six activities of daily living, or requiring substantial supervision due to cognitive impairment, certified by a licensed health practitioner. The six are worth knowing by name: bathing, continence, dressing, eating, toileting and transferring — getting in and out of a bed or a chair. Two of those six is a lower bar than most people picture.
Ask whether ongoing benefits require re-certification, and how often. Ask what the elimination period is — the waiting period before benefits start.
4. Is it indemnity or reimbursement?
Reimbursement means you pay out of pocket, submit receipts and invoices for approval, and get paid back only for what the policy expressly covers. Anything outside that list stays yours to pay.
Indemnity means the contract pays you a set amount each month and you decide how to spend it. There is no list of covered services, no approved-provider network, no schedule of exclusions — so long as it goes toward qualified long-term care, including paying a family member to provide it. For a lot of families this is the single most practical difference between two otherwise similar solutions.
5. Is the benefit protected against inflation?
A benefit sized to today's cost of care will not be sized to the cost of care in twenty years — look again at what the estimator did to your number. Ask whether the benefit grows, at what rate, for how long, and what that growth costs you.
6. How is the benefit taxed?
Qualified long-term care benefits are generally received income-tax-free under IRC §7702B, subject to per-diem limits. But how you fund the solution can create a tax bill of its own. Moving an old non-qualified annuity with a large embedded gain is a very different transaction than writing a check from savings, and the difference can run into five figures.
7. When is my money accessible, and what does it cost to get it?
Ask for the surrender charge schedule in writing, how many years it runs, how much you can withdraw annually without penalty, and whether a market value adjustment applies. Then ask yourself honestly whether this is money you can leave alone that long.
8. Is the full benefit available immediately?
Frequently it isn't. Many solutions vest benefits over the first several years. That's not a reason to avoid them — but it is a reason not to wait until a diagnosis is already on the table.
9. What does this do to the other four areas of my plan?
The one almost nobody asks. Money committed to care is money not producing income and not invested for growth. The funding method changes your tax picture and your estate. If the person presenting the solution can only talk about the N, they're solving a fifth of your problem.
A Clear Path Forward
Three conversations. No pressure in any of them.
A real conversation, first
We start with a complimentary Vision Visit — not a pitch. We look at your full picture across all five areas of the Roadmap and give you a straight answer on whether long-term care is a gap worth solving for you at all. Sometimes it isn't, and we'll tell you so.
See your numbers clearly
If it is worth solving, we show you which of the four approaches fits, the specific contract and company behind it, and your personalized illustration — the premium, the benefit, what it costs, and what happens if you never use it. Real numbers for your age and your state, not a web estimate.
Decide, and get on with living
If it fits, we handle the paperwork and walk it through with you from application to issue. If it doesn't, you've spent twenty minutes — and you'll know exactly where you stand on the N either way.
Next Step
Your complimentary Vision Visit starts here.
In about twenty minutes we'll review your current plan, put a real number on your long-term care exposure, and show you which of the four approaches actually fits — and which contract we'd use to do it. No cost. No obligation. Just clarity.
- Your information is private and never shared
- We respond within one business day
- No sales pressure. Ever.
Prefer the phone? (214) 778-5645 · Info@interlincfinancial.com
The purpose of this communication is the solicitation of insurance. A financial representative (a licensed insurance agent/producer) may contact you.
Let's have a real conversation.
Tell us a little about yourself and we'll reach out within one business day to schedule your complimentary visit.
Interlinc Financial Advisors, Inc. · Plano, TX · (214) 778-5645
Important Disclosures
This page is educational. It is not an advertisement for, a recommendation of, or an offer of any specific insurance contract, annuity, or investment. No product, insurance company, or contract is identified or offered here. Descriptions of approaches to funding long-term care are general in nature; features, costs, availability and terms vary by contract, by issuing company and by state.
Long-term care benefits payable under a qualified contract are generally received income-tax-free under Internal Revenue Code Section 7702B, subject to the per-diem limits established by the IRS. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and on how a solution is funded. Interlinc Financial Advisors, Inc. does not provide legal, tax or accounting advice; consult your own tax advisor and attorney.
Annuity and insurance products are not deposits and are not guaranteed by any bank. They are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other agency of the federal government. Certain products may lose value. Any guarantees are backed solely by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Annuities may be subject to fees, surrender charges, market value adjustments and holding periods that vary by company and by state. Withdrawals before age 59½ may be subject to a 10% IRS penalty tax. Surrender or withdrawal may reduce or eliminate benefits.
Cost-of-care figures are 2025 state and national medians published by CareScout (Genworth) and are not specific to any region, facility or individual. Estimator results are hypothetical illustrations based on the assumptions you select, are not a projection of your results, and should not be used as the sole basis for a financial decision.
For the complete details of any solution discussed with you — including the issuing insurance company, contract and rider form numbers, costs, exclusions, reductions and limitations, and the terms under which coverage may be continued in force — contact Interlinc Financial Advisors, Inc.
Interlinc Retirement Roadmap™ is a planning framework of Interlinc Financial Advisors, Inc.