Combined Premium Outlay

$200,000

$25,000 per spouse, per year, paid over 4 years

Day-One Total Coverage

$553,539

Combined LTC and death benefit available from day one

Combined Monthly LTC Benefit

$22,142/mo

Tax-free, payable upon a qualifying chronic illness

The Reality

Long-term care is the single largest planning risk most retirees never address.

Without a plan, the cost lands on your portfolio, your home equity, or your family's time.

7 in 10

Americans turning 65 today will need some form of long-term care during their lifetime.

3 years

Average duration of care, with women typically needing care longer than men.

$74,400/yr

2025 U.S. median annual cost of assisted living, up +5% from 2024.

What Care Actually Costs Today

2025 national median costs by care setting, from the longest-running cost-of-care survey in the country.

In-Home Caregiver

$35/hr

~$80,080 / year

Non-medical care, 44 hours per week. +3% YoY

Assisted Living

$6,200/mo

$74,400 / year

Residential care facility in CA. +5% YoY

Nursing Home, Semi-Private

$9,581/mo

$114,975 / year

Shared room, skilled nursing facility. +3% YoY

Nursing Home, Private

$10,798/mo

$129,575 / year

Private room, skilled nursing facility. +1% YoY

Source: CareScout (formerly Genworth) Cost of Care Survey, 2025. National median values. California's "residential care facility" is the regulatory equivalent of assisted living.

Two Approaches

The traditional approach asks you to bet against yourself. There is a better way.

Most people know stand-alone LTC insurance. Fewer have seen a permanent life policy with an LTC rider.

Traditional LTC Insurance

Use it or lose it.

A standalone insurance product designed only for long-term care.

You pay annual premiums for life, with the carrier reserving the right to increase rates over time.

If you need care: The policy pays a daily or monthly benefit, subject to elimination periods and limits.

If you never need care: Every dollar of premium paid is gone. No benefit to you or your heirs.

"I hope I never use it, but if I don't, I just spent decades funding nothing."

VUL with LTC Rider

Use it, or pass it on.

A permanent life policy whose cash value funds long-term care if needed.

Your premium builds cash value invested in mutual funds, similar to your retirement accounts.

If you need care: The policy advances a monthly long-term care benefit, tax-free, from day one.

If you never need care: The full death benefit passes to your estate, income-tax-free.

"Either I use it for care, or my family receives it. The premium is never wasted."

How It Works

A single premium dollar does three jobs at once.

The policy is issued by Pacific Life. Here is how the structure flows.

Step One

Premium In

$25,000 per spouse, per year, for 4 years funds the policy. After charges, the balance flows into cash value.

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Step Two

Cash Value Invested

Cash value is allocated across institutional mutual fund sub-accounts, growing tax-deferred, much like your retirement portfolio.

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Step Three

Benefit Out

When triggered by a chronic illness certification, the policy advances tax-free monthly LTC benefits. Whatever remains becomes the death benefit.

Your Coverage

Two policies, each fully funded from day one.

Each spouse holds an individual policy. Premium is $25,000 per year for 4 years per policy.

Policy One

Spouse 1

Annual Premium

$25,000/yr × 4

Total LTC / Death Benefit (Day 1)

$307,294

Monthly LTC Benefit Maximum

$12,292/mo

Full coverage is available on day one. The death benefit and LTC pool are a fixed amount; cash value invested in mutual funds continues to grow alongside the policy.

Policy Two

Spouse 2

Annual Premium

$25,000/yr × 4

Total LTC / Death Benefit (Day 1)

$246,245

Monthly LTC Benefit Maximum

$9,850/mo

Full coverage is available on day one. The death benefit and LTC pool are a fixed amount; cash value invested in mutual funds continues to grow alongside the policy.

Three Outcomes

Whatever happens, the money is not lost.

Select each tab to see where the dollars go in that outcome.

You live a long, healthy life and never trigger the LTC benefit.

The policy continues to grow as cash value invested in mutual funds. At death, the full income-tax-free death benefit passes to your estate or named beneficiaries.

The premium you paid is not gone. It is converted, dollar for dollar and then some, into a tax-advantaged legacy for the next generation.

Long-term care used

Death benefit to estate, household

$553,539

Net benefit to family

$553,539

You experience a chronic illness requiring long-term care.

Upon certification by a Licensed Health Care Practitioner, the policy begins paying a tax-free monthly benefit directly to you. Spouse 1's policy pays up to $12,292 per month. Spouse 2's policy pays up to $9,850 per month.

Care can be received at home, in assisted living, in a nursing facility, or internationally. Family members may serve as the primary care provider under the rider terms.

Spouse 1 monthly benefit, max

$12,292

Spouse 2 monthly benefit, max

$9,850

Combined household, full draw

$22,142/mo

You use some of the LTC benefit, but not all of it.

Many people who claim long-term care benefits do not exhaust the full pool. Recovery, a transition to in-home care, or a shorter duration of need leaves a meaningful portion of the benefit unused.

Whatever is not used for care passes to your estate as a residual death benefit. The policy continues to serve both purposes until the end.

LTC benefit used, example

$200,000

Remaining death benefit to estate

$353,539

Total value delivered to family

$553,539

Activating the Benefit

How the policy turns on.

The criteria are defined and uniform, applied by a Licensed Health Care Practitioner.

Benefits begin when one of two conditions is met. There is no subjective standard and no waiting on a carrier's discretion. The criteria below are defined by federal law and applied the same way across every qualifying long-term care policy.

Condition One

2 of 6

Unable to perform at least two of the six Activities of Daily Living without substantial assistance, with the loss of functional capacity expected to last at least 90 days.

Condition Two

Severe Cognitive Impairment

Requires substantial supervision to protect the insured from threats to health and safety due to memory loss, disorientation, or impaired reasoning.

The Six Activities of Daily Living

Bathing

Getting in and out of a tub or shower and washing oneself.

Continence

Managing bladder and bowel function.

Dressing

Putting on and taking off clothing, including any necessary medical devices.

Eating

Feeding oneself once food has been prepared and made available.

Toileting

Getting to and from the toilet and maintaining personal hygiene.

Transferring

Moving between a bed, chair, wheelchair, or similar positions.

Indemnity Benefit

The cash comes to you. You decide where it goes.

An indemnity benefit, paid directly to the insured upon qualification.

Most long-term care policies are reimbursement-based. You pay caregivers and facilities first, then submit invoices and wait for the carrier to reimburse approved expenses. This policy works differently. Once a chronic illness is certified by a Licensed Health Care Practitioner, the policy pays a fixed monthly cash benefit directly to the insured. No receipts to submit, no restriction on how the money is used.

Why It Matters

Care looks different in every family.

The structure that works for one household, whether a professional in-home aide, an assisted-living move, a family member stepping in, or a combination, may not work for another. Because the benefit is paid as cash rather than reimbursement, the choice of how to receive care stays with the family, not the carrier. The same monthly check funds whatever decision fits the moment, and that decision can change as circumstances do.

Possible Uses for the Cash

Hire a professional caregiver at home or in an assisted living facility.

Compensate a family member providing direct care, recognizing their time and effort.

Fund home modifications like ramps, grab bars, stair lifts, or accessible bathrooms.

Cover related expenses such as transportation, special diets, or medical equipment.

Supplement household income if a spouse reduces work hours to be present during care.

Policy Features

Pacific Life builds in protections most carriers charge extra for.

The PLTC Rider includes a set of benefits designed to protect the policy during a claim.

Premier Perks Care Coordination

Concierge-level access to a national long-term care services referral network at no additional charge. Free consultations, assessments, and a tailored plan of care.

Family Caregivers

Family members may serve as the primary care provider, subject to the rider's benefit eligibility requirements. Care from those you trust most is recognized.

International Benefit

Benefits remain payable for covered services received outside the United States, provided certifications are completed by a Licensed Health Care Practitioner.

Waiver of Rider Charges

During any claim period, Pacific Life waives the PLTC Rider charge entirely. The cost of the long-term care benefit stops while it is in use.

Policy Lapse Protection

In any month long-term care benefits are paid, the policy will not enter grace or lapse, even if outstanding policy debt exceeds the accumulated value.

Couples Discount

A lower monthly rider charge applies when both spouses hold policies. Recognition that planning for care as a couple is more efficient than planning alone.

Beyond the Numbers

The hardest cost of long-term care never shows up on a balance sheet.

When a long-term care need is funded, the people closest to you remain the people closest to you. When it is not, the role of "family" quietly changes shape. A daughter becomes a case manager. A son becomes a nurse. A spouse becomes a full-time caregiver. The love does not change, but the relationship narrows around the work of providing care, and a chapter of life that should have been spent enjoying each other gets spent managing each other.

Your children visit as your children.

Not as the ones scheduling medications, arranging transport, or coordinating with care providers.

Your spouse stays your spouse.

Not the one waking up at three in the morning for the second time that night.

Sunday dinner stays Sunday dinner.

Not a logistical handoff between rotating family shifts.

Holidays are about the grandkids.

Not about who is on duty so the primary caregiver can finally rest.

Your adult children keep their careers.

Not stepping back from work, income, and retirement savings of their own to provide unpaid care.

You remain Mom or Dad.

Not "the situation" that family conversations now revolve around.

A gift that does not feel like one until it is needed.

A funded long-term care plan is one of the few financial decisions whose value lands almost entirely on the people you love. It lets your family be present with you, not responsible for you. It preserves the kind of relationship you spent a lifetime building with your children, and the kind of marriage you and your spouse have shared. Most clients view the policy as protection against a cost. The families who have lived through the alternative view it as something different. They view it as the reason their last years together looked the way they always hoped they would.

The Cost of Care

Care costs grow. Your coverage is designed to carry the largest portion.

At 4% annual inflation, the cost of care roughly doubles over twenty years.

Projected Monthly Cost of Long-Term Care

Adjusted for 4% annual inflation, with each spouse's day-one coverage shown for reference

Cost of care

Spouse 1 coverage

Spouse 2 coverage

Spouse 1 at 87

Spouse 2 at 87

Spouse 2, Age 87 (2046)

Projected monthly cost of $15,205 against day-1 coverage of $9,850. Coverage handles roughly 65%, with cash value and portfolio bridging the rest.

Spouse 1, Age 87 (2050)

Projected monthly cost of $17,789 against day-1 coverage of $12,292. Coverage handles roughly 69%, with cash value and portfolio bridging the rest.

Estate Impact

The policy grows the estate, not just the protection.

Comparing the financial plan with the policy in place against the current trajectory without it.

At every milestone age, the LTC structure delivers a larger household estate than doing nothing with the same dollars. The premium paid is not consumed. It is repositioned into a more efficient form of household wealth.

Household Estate Value by Age

Present-value dollars, current plan compared with LTC policy in place

Current Plan

With LTC Policy

At Age 80

$302,211

Larger estate in current dollars with the LTC policy in place.

At Age 85

$218,103

Larger estate in current dollars with the LTC policy in place.

At Age 90

$163,219

Larger estate in current dollars with the LTC policy in place.

Key Takeaways

What this policy actually does for you.

Day-one full coverage. $307,294 of long-term care and death benefit for Spouse 1 and $246,245 for Spouse 2, available the day each policy is issued.

No "use it or lose it." If care is needed, the policy pays. If care is never needed, the death benefit passes to your estate, income-tax-free.

Cash value invested in mutual funds. Premiums build cash value that participates in market growth, similar to a retirement account.

Tax-free monthly benefit. Up to $22,142 of combined household long-term care benefit per month, paid tax-free upon a chronic illness certification.

The estate is larger, not smaller. Financial plan projections show a larger household estate at ages 80, 85, and 90 with the policy in place than without it.

Your family stays your family. The plan protects more than the portfolio. It protects the relationships you spent your life building.