Summary: A private nursing home room costs a national median of $129,575 a year in 2025, and about 70 percent of people turning 65 will need some long-term care. This calculator estimates your total cost from the care setting, how many years of care you plan for, and cost inflation, then compares it against a typical long-term care insurance benefit pool so you can see the out-of-pocket gap you would actually face.
Care costs: 2025 national medians (CareScout/Genworth). Estimates for planning only; not financial advice.
Long-term care is the largest uninsured risk in most retirement plans. Medicare covers exactly zero dollars of custodial care, the help with bathing, dressing, and eating that makes up most long-term care, and it covers skilled nursing only briefly after a hospital stay. Medicaid covers nursing homes but only after you have spent down nearly all assets. Everything in between is private money, at $355 a day for a private room.
The insurance math is unforgiving because of timing. A healthy 55-year-old couple pays about $5,010 a year combined for a $165,000 benefit pool growing at 3 percent compounded, per the AALTCI 2026 price index. Wait until 65 and the same coverage costs about $7,030. Wait until health problems appear and you may not qualify at any price: insurers decline nearly half of applicants over 70.
The planning window is your 50s to mid-60s. Run the calculator with and without the insurance toggle, compare the out-of-pocket gap against your liquid assets, and decide whether you are self-insuring deliberately or by default. The hybrid life-insurance policies in the guides below are the middle path growing fastest for people who missed the traditional window.
The 2025 national median was $129,575 a year for a private room ($355 a day) and $114,975 for a semi-private room ($315 a day), per the CareScout/Genworth Cost of Care Survey. Assisted living median was $74,400 a year.
Medicare pays $0 for custodial long-term care. It covers skilled nursing facility care only after a qualifying hospital stay: fully for days 1 to 20, with a daily copayment for days 21 to 100, and nothing after day 100.
Per the AALTCI 2026 price index, a 55-year-old couple pays about $5,010 a year combined for a $165,000 initial benefit pool growing 3 percent compounded. A single 55-year-old man averages $2,200; a single woman $3,750.
About 70 percent of people turning 65 will need some long-term care in their remaining years, per the federal Administration for Community Living. Women need care for 3.7 years on average, men 2.2 years.
Figures: CareScout/Genworth 2025 Cost of Care Survey; AALTCI 2026 Long-Term Care Insurance Price Index. Verify current costs locally. This page is for planning only and is not financial advice.