You'll get the best rates along with the best value in long term care insurance if you take your time to do a number of things. Here are 5 things that will ensure this...

1) Make sure you know when your chosen insurer thinks a policy holder qualifies for benefits. What are the things they say must happen before being declared eligible? Is it, for example, when a policy holder can no longer carry on with daily activities without assistance? You need to know so you don't get rude surprises down the road.

2) Is there any feature that ensures your benefits are protected against inflation or possible increase in the cost of long term care? Understand the terms where such exists and don't buy if none exists. A good example is an inflation adjustment feature that guarantees that benefits reflect the cost of long term care at any point in time.

3) Make sure your insurer offers guaranteed renewal with the purchase of the policy. It guarantees that you can't be declined whenever you want to renew.

4) It's good to buy a policy that has a non-forfeiture clause. This guarantees you get paid a reasonable part of your benefit if you let your policy lapse unintentionally or decide to cancel the policy.

5) Get and compare many long term care insurance quotes. You might save several hundreds or even a few thousand dollars by simply getting quotes from not less than three insurance quotes sites. You'll make savings if you go to only one of such sites. However, you'll get more by visiting at least three. This is because getting long term care insurance quotes from many sites increases your chances of receiving better offers.