Decide on the waiting period that will serve you best. To make sure we're all on the same plate, it refers to the length of time an insured would have to wait before getting benefits from the insurer calculated from when they start needing long term care.

Waiting periods could be any number of days from 1 to 180. A longer waiting period results in lower rates. While you do this, remember that these are the number of days you'll pay for long term care out of your own pocket.

Can you comfortably afford to spend about $100 daily for 30 days? Then choose that as your waiting period. If you want your long term care insurance benefits to start as soon as possible, choose the very lowest waiting period.

For me I think it's a smart move to go for the lowest waiting period even though a higher waiting period guarantees lower rates. This is because you can get lower long term care insurance rates by doing other things that will not affect when you start getting your benefits.

An example is getting and comparing as many long term care insurance quotes from as many insurance companies as you can. This will almost always save you much more than choosing a long waiting period which might put you in a tight corner in the future.

To get and compare long term care insurance quotes in a way that will yield the best results, visit up to five or more reputable insurance sites. You may be surprised to get as much as $1,000 in savings. So do this diligently. Each site will take you only about five minutes.