insurance-long-term-care-evaluation

insurance-long-term-care-evaluation

Trigger phrases:

• "long term care insurance"
• "LTC insurance"
• "should I buy long-term care"
• "hybrid life LTC"

Cadence: Every 2-3 years for users 50+. Sweet spot for purchasing standalone LTC is typically late 50s to early 60s before underwriting tightens.

Scope Gate

Reads age from vault/insurance/config.md. If age < 50 and ltc_evaluation_enabled is not set to true, this op exits with: "LTC evaluation is enabled at age 50+ or by setting ltc_evaluation_enabled: true in vault/insurance/config.md."

What It Does

Roughly 50% of adults will need some form of long-term care; about 20% will need more than 2 years. Costs run $50K-$120K/year depending on care type and location. The decision is whether to insure, partially insure, or self-fund.

Three paths compared:

• Standalone LTC insurance: Traditional or hybrid policies. Premium ranges depending on age, health class, daily benefit, benefit period, inflation rider. Surfaces the rate-increase risk historical pattern (legacy carriers have raised premiums on existing blocks).
• Hybrid life-LTC or annuity-LTC products: Lower abandonment risk, asset-based, premium guarantees stronger than standalone. Higher up-front cost. Death benefit accrues if LTC is never used.
• Self-funding from invested assets: Requires a defined LTC reserve in the asset allocation. Op computes "self-fund threshold" using a simple model: (expected LTC duration × annual cost) inflated to age 80, present-valued at the user's expected return.

Output: A recommendation with the decision factors made explicit (state Medicaid look-back rules, family history of needing LTC, asset level, comfort with insurance carrier risk). Not a substitute for advice from a fee-only fiduciary.

Steps

1. Confirm scope gate.
2. Read age, state, net_worth, family_history_ltc from vault/insurance/config.md (and vault/wealth/ for net-worth).
3. Compute self-fund threshold based on assumed daily cost × duration × inflation × discount rate.
4. Compare to estimated standalone LTC premium (based on user age and benefit assumptions).
5. Compare to hybrid product cost in single-premium and multi-pay forms.
6. Surface state-specific factors (Medicaid look-back period, partnership programs).
7. Output decision packet to vault/insurance/02_briefs/ltc-evaluation-{YYYY}.md.
8. Recommend (or not) further evaluation with a fee-only planner.

Configuration

vault/insurance/config.md:

• age, state, ltc_evaluation_enabled
• family_history_ltc (yes/no/unknown)
• target_ltc_daily_benefit (default $200/day)

Error Handling

• Net worth unknown: Use a generic threshold ($1M-$2M typical self-fund range) and note assumption.
• State not configured: Skip Medicaid look-back specifics; note state-specific advice required.

Vault Paths

• Reads: ~/Documents/aireadylife/vault/insurance/config.md, optional ~/Documents/aireadylife/vault/wealth/
• Writes: ~/Documents/aireadylife/vault/insurance/02_briefs/ltc-evaluation-{YYYY}.md, ~/Documents/aireadylife/vault/insurance/open-loops.md