When advising clients about how to plan for the possibility of needing long-term care, elder law attorneys generally put long-term care insurance (LTCI) at or near the top of the list of planning strategies, provided the clients can afford the coverage and are insurable. But are elder law attorneys walking the walk for themselves and their families as well as talking the talk to their clients?

For the most part, yes, according to a recent ElderLawAnswers survey. In the survey, 58% of responding elder law attorneys said they have LTCI. Another 10% said they are planning on buying it but haven’t gotten around to it yet and about 8% lack coverage because they are uninsurable.

Of those who don’t have LTCI, the primary reason for not purchasing it is that it’s considered too expensive. The other reasons respondents gave, in descending order, were that they’re too young to think about buying it, they are uninsurable, they plan to self-insure, they don’t trust the insurance companies, and they are concerned about rising premiums. One attorney intends to spend down his or her resources to qualify for Medicaid coverage of long-term care.

Source: The Corporation for Long-Term Care Certification