Women often outlive men. Here’s how they should approach their long-term care needs
The Longevity and Care Disparity
Women face a disproportionately high financial risk in retirement due to longer life expectancies and extended long-term care needs. According to data, 26% of women will require long-term care—defined as assistance with daily living tasks like bathing and dressing—for more than five years, compared to just 17.5% of men. Because women tend to outlive their husbands, they often care for their spouses first. Consequently, a couple’s shared financial assets are frequently depleted on the husband’s medical needs, leaving the woman to enter her highest-risk years with fewer resources and no partner to share the caregiving burden.
Escalating Care Costs and Higher Premiums
The financial burden of this care is substantial, especially since Medicare generally does not cover long-term care expenses. For context, the median annual cost for a private nursing home room reached $129,575 in 2025, while assisted living facilities averaged $74,400 annually. Compounding this issue, women are charged significantly higher private insurance premiums than men because they live longer and utilize more care. For instance, a healthy 55-year-old woman pays an average of $3,750 annually for a standalone policy, whereas a man of the same age pays $2,200 for the exact same coverage.
Strategic Planning Options
To mitigate these risks, financial experts advise individuals to explore long-term care options early, well before health issues emerge and insurers deny coverage. Rather than trying to insure every single out-of-pocket dollar, the goal should be to purchase enough coverage to bridge the gap between guaranteed income (like Social Security or pensions) and actual care costs. Consumers can choose between standalone policies, popular hybrid policies—which combine care coverage with a life insurance death benefit so the money isn’t “wasted” if it goes unused—or shared policies with a spouse to lower premium costs.