Long-term care is the line item that breaks more retirement plans than any other. The numbers are not abstract: the median private room in a U.S. nursing home runs about $122,000 per year in 2026 dollars, and that figure has compounded above CPI for two decades. Three to five years of skilled nursing care in a high-cost state can run past a million dollars. Medicare does not cover it. Medicaid only covers it after the household has spent down to roughly $2,000 of countable assets.
For the households we work with at T&T Capital Management, the question is rarely “how do I qualify for Medicaid.” The question is the three-way trade-off: pay it from existing retirement assets, carry a dedicated long-term-care reserve, or transfer the risk to an insurance carrier through a traditional LTC policy or a hybrid life/LTC product. The right answer depends on age, household assets, family health history, and what coverage is already in place.
Why the magnitude surprises people
Three multipliers stack. First, the state spread is enormous: a Louisiana nursing home runs about 70% of the national median; an Alaskan one runs nearly double. Second, LTC inflation has historically run 3 to 5 percent per year — meaningfully above general inflation — because it is labor-driven and the workforce supply is structurally tight. Third, by the time most households need care — typically in their 80s — the cost in nominal dollars is two to three times today’s sticker price.
When you combine all three, a $122,000 annual figure in 2026 can become $280,000 to $300,000 per year by the time a 65-year-old reaches 82 — and then keeps inflating across the years of care.
What this calculator does
Enter your current age, state, expected age of needing care (default 80), expected duration of care (default 3 years, the national median — some households use longer for a more conservative cushion), care setting, and any existing LTC policy you already hold. The tool surfaces:
- What annual care will cost in the year it begins (inflated forward)
- The cumulative cost across the full expected duration of care
- The dedicated reserve you would need, net of any existing policy benefits
- A high-level framing of which strategy lane fits your situation
A note on what we are not: T&T Capital Management is not an insurance broker. The strategy framing in the result is illustrative — meant to help you locate the right conversation, not to recommend a specific policy. LTC product selection is a separate engagement with a licensed insurance agent. What we can do is help you size the gap, integrate it into your broader retirement plan, and coordinate the funding decision with everything else on your balance sheet.
Run yours.