First Person

The case for long-term care insurance is usually made with mathematics, and rightly so. Weighing the risk of a debilitating disability and its financial impact against the relatively modest cost of insuring against the risk makes for a convincing equation. 

But beyond the immutable logic of numbers, equally powerful arguments for LTC insurance often come from another source – the human voice. Such was the case with John Horton, an Ohio father of three who so believed in the value of LTC insurance that he insisted on speaking out in a videotaped testimonial during his last year of life.

Produced by Prudential, the documentary-style video tells the story of a much-loved patriarch who enjoyed the final years of his life surrounded by a large, extended family. Sunday dinners, evening walks to a nearby pond with his wife and plentiful hugs from his five grandchildren were among the cherished rituals of Horton’s life. And for that, he credits his decision years before to purchase long-term care coverage to protect his family’s finances.

In Horton’s case, LTC insurance made a profound difference in helping to cushion the financial impact of treatment for multiple sclerosis, a disease that started with a barely noticeable limp in Horton’s walk 25 years before he passed away. As his condition worsened and expenses associated with Horton’s care mounted, so did his gratitude for the LTC policy from Prudential. “Without it, I would have never made it this far,” Horton said in the video. “I’d be cooped up in a nursing home somewhere, probably.”