About 70 percent of all retirees need long-term care at some point, although that includes help from family and friends as well as assisted living and nursing homes, says Jamie Hopkins, professor in the Retirement Income Program at The American College.

About two-thirds of long-term care comes from family members, Hopkins says. About a third of those who need help eventually will wind up in nursing homes or assisted-living facilities. Men typically need 2.2 years of assistance, while women, who live longer, need an average 3.7 years.

Assisted living doesn’t come cheap: an average of $3,022 a month for a room at an assisted-living facility, or $36,264 a year, according to the Assisted Living Federation of America.

The costs go up if you need help with taking medications, getting dressed or other daily activities. Full-scale nursing-home assistance can run about $85,000 a year, says Frank Darras, a lawyer in Ontario, Calif.

Most times, you’re not going to get assisted-living care from the government, unless you’re a veteran or on Medicaid – and that’s typically reserved for the very neediest people. Medicare doesn’t cover the costs of assisted living if all you need is custodial care, such as help getting dressed. It does help with many medical costs, however.

The mistaken belief that the government will pay for long-term care is one reason why people don’t get long-term care. Another is that people don’t think they will need it. But the biggest cause is the cost: about $1,985 a year for a typical policy for a 55-year-old man, says Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.

And there are plenty of variables in the cost. The main one: age, said Hopkins. The older you are, the more likely you are to need long-term care insurance in the near future, and the more expensive the policy.

One alternative to long-term care insurance : If you have a paid-up life insurance policy, you may be able to exchange it for one with a long-term care rider, said Hopkins.

The policy would let you tap your benefits if you needed long-term care. You could use a 1035 tax-free exchange to get the new policy with the long-term care rider.

“It’s a good avenue for some people,” Hopkins said. “They don’t have to spend more money on long-term care.”

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