60 Second Savings: Long-Term Care

Attention baby boomers: If you thought federal funds or your existing insurance plan was going to pick up your entire medical tab down the road, think again.

For example, on average, Medicare only pays for the first 20 days of nursing home care.

Instead, experts recommend applying for long-term care insurance, which typically covers services such as home health care aids, adult day-care facilities and assisted living.

"This is something a lot of baby boomers are going to need, because they're going to live a long time but not have the money to maintain themselves," says personal finance guru Jordan Goodman, who runs moneyanswers.com.

Long-term health care is not cheap. Annual premiums can cost up to thousands of dollars a year, depending on the type of policy and your age.

The advice: Apply before you need it, when you're in your late 40s or early 50s and the price for long-term care insurance is significantly lower.

As each year passes, the expense rises dramatically. And if you develop health conditions, it's almost impossible to qualify for long-term health care.

Remember to shop around. To search for the best deal, try such sites as searchLTC.com, longtermcarewiz.com and ltcq.com.

To view Farnoosh Torabi's video take of today's segment, click here.