Long-Term Care Cost Projection
What could a stretch of long-term care cost by the time it is needed, and what would cover it today? Every piece below can be linked to, so it opens in a window on your reader's screen, current as of the record. No form to fill in.
2026 law · Reviewed September 7, 2026 · The full page, with methodology and sources · the terms · All tools
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Today's monthly rate, care inflation, years until care, years of care, and a return in; the monthly rate then, the total, and the set-aside today out. In a frame it carries no cookies, no tracking, and a visible link back to the methodology. Your site has to allow frames; most do. The link that opens it in a small window is on the professionals page.
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- In plain words.
- Care costs are quoted by the month, and they rise every year, faster than most prices. This tool takes today's monthly rate for the kind of care you would use, grows it to the year care might begin, adds up the years it might last, and shows the total. It also shows how much money, invested today, would grow to cover that total.
- Why it matters.
- Whether you plan to insure, self-fund, or rely on a spouse and Medicaid, the projection is the first number every one of those plans needs, and today's rate understates it badly.
- An example.
- A $10,000 monthly rate today, rising 5 percent a year, for care beginning in ten years and lasting three: about $16,300 a month at the start, about $616,000 in all. Set aside today at a 5 percent return, about $360,000 would cover it.
- Where it stops.
- Every input is an assumption. The rate should be a real quote from a facility or agency you would use, the inflation is a guess, and the duration is unknowable in advance. It does not model insurance, Medicaid, or a spouse's needs, which have their own tools.
The facts
Six quotable sentences on the cost of care.
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- Long-term care is priced by the month, and the price rises faster than most things: care inflation has run ahead of general inflation for decades, because care is labor.
- The cost that matters is not today's rate but the rate in the year care begins, grown at care inflation, summed over the years it lasts. A need fifteen years away at five percent inflation costs about twice today's number.
- Example: a $10,000 monthly rate today, rising 5 percent a year, for care that begins in ten years and lasts three: about $16,289 a month at the start, $616,211 in all. Set aside today at a 5 percent return, about $360,000 would cover it.
- The rate to use is the one from the facilities or agencies you would actually choose, in your area: nursing homes, assisted living, and home care differ by a factor of two or more, and Illinois differs from its neighbors.
- Insurance, a hybrid life policy, self-funding, and Medicaid after a spend-down are the four ways the number gets paid; the projection is the same whichever is chosen, and it is the first input to all four.
- A couple has two projections, not one, and a spouse at home has the Illinois protections the Medicaid tools describe.
Three years of care, by when it begins
How the wait and the inflation compound.
The button shows exactly what your reader sees when they click the link. Paste the link where a link goes; it opens this table in a small window, always current as of the record, with the attribution and a link to the full page. Nothing to copy out, nothing to update later.
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| Care begins in | Monthly rate then | Three years' cost | Set aside today |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 years | $12,763 | $482,817 | $360,000 |
| 10 years | $16,289 | $616,211 | $360,000 |
| 15 years | $20,789 | $786,459 | $360,000 |
| 20 years | $26,533 | $1,003,743 | $360,000 |
Cite and link.
The clean address, a citation generated from the record so it can never carry a stale review date, and an address for every section so you can point a reader at the exact table or method.
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- Link
- https://consideratecapital.com/tools/long-term-care-cost-projection
- Citation
- Considerate Capital, "Long-Term Care Cost Projection," reviewed September 7, 2026, https://consideratecapital.com/tools/long-term-care-cost-projection.
Link to a section
- The calculator https://consideratecapital.com/tools/long-term-care-cost-projection#calculator
- The facts https://consideratecapital.com/tools/long-term-care-cost-projection#facts
- By when care begins https://consideratecapital.com/tools/long-term-care-cost-projection#key-numbers
- How the projection works https://consideratecapital.com/tools/long-term-care-cost-projection#how-it-works
- Methodology https://consideratecapital.com/tools/long-term-care-cost-projection#methodology
- Revision history https://consideratecapital.com/tools/long-term-care-cost-projection#revision-history
Everything here reads from one reviewed record, so a copied piece carries its year and its review date. When the law moves, the embed updates by itself; a copied table or chart keeps the year in its caption. Corrections are welcome through the contact page.