As financial and insurance advisors, every day we help our clients protect themselves, their families, their businesses, and their properties from adverse occurrences large and small. Some discussions are pretty easy — let's insure that new car, include your daughter at college on your health plan, protect your house against hurricanes — but others can be difficult. Even the welcome thought of retirement can bring conflicting emotions: Great, you get to retire. Now what happens if you need nursing care or outlive your retirement funds?

Human nature being what it is, our clients often think of these things very late in the retirement game. There are many 50-80 year olds who do not want to think about them at all. They mistakenly believe that just because they are playing golf a few times a week that they are in good health. The “this could not happen to me” syndrome is rampant.

It is our job to tell them that long-term care (LTC) insurance is a strategic way to protect their accumulated assets. It is the protector of their portfolio and, combined with the new tax laws, offers benefits in different ways. We must help our clients consider all of the options available to determine which make the most sense. At least some coverage is always better than going bare. With proper planning, LTC insurance does not preclude a person from receiving Medicaid. Given the extreme expense of nursing care, the days of Medicaid being “just for the poor” are over.