<p>regarding long term health care- My Mom was able to purchase LTHC through my sister’s employer. The employer offered this as a benefit to their employees and extended it to parents. The rate was quite a bit less then the policy they ended up purchasing for my stepfather who did not qualify for the plan as he had some health issues that made him no eligible for the employers plan. If you or your siblings work for a government employee you might have this option available to you.
Both my father in law and my Mom used their plans. My Mom was insistant that she would not go to a “home” or live with one of her children. She struggled the last years of her life. The last yr was bedridden. She had caregivers 24 hours a day almost 5 days a week with family members filling in. Between social security, a small pension(that was a defined benefit plan so continued as long as she was living) and the long term health care along with some retirement savings she managed to stay in her home. She worried that she would not be leaving any money for her children but our feeling was that that was what the money was for. My siblings( there were a lot of us) also agreed that if at some point Mom ran out of money we would all pitch in to help cover the caregiver cost. She died a little more than a year ago and we were able to grant her wish to stay in her home.<br>
My parents were not wealthy people but my Mom had spent time thinking about this time of her life and tried her best to plan for it.
Best of luck to all of you</p>