Can a Roth Conversion Help You Prepare for Future Long-Term Care Costs?

You have $1.5 million in your traditional IRA.

Your house is paid off.

Social Security is coming.

Maybe you have a pension too.

On paper, retirement looks pretty good.

Then another thought creeps in:

“What happens if one of us needs care for three or four years?”

Not a vacation.

Not a new car.

Care.

Home care.

Assisted living.

Memory care.

A nursing facility.

Suddenly, the question isn’t just whether you have enough retirement assets.

It’s:

“Which account are we going to pull the money from if we suddenly need a lot more income?”

If most of your wealth is sitting inside traditional IRAs and 401(k)s, a major care event could require substantial taxable retirement distributions.

That’s where Roth conversion planning can become part of the long-term care conversation.

Not because a Roth IRA pays for long-term care automatically.

Not because converting eliminates the cost of care.

And not because everyone worried about long-term care should convert their IRA.

The potential advantage is simpler:

A larger Roth balance may give you another source of retirement money when life suddenly gets expensive.

Quick Answer: Can a Roth Conversion Help With Long-Term Care Planning?

Potentially.

A Roth conversion moves money from a traditional retirement account into Roth.

The taxable portion of the conversion generally creates income in the year of conversion.

In exchange, qualified Roth IRA distributions are generally tax-free under current federal rules when the applicable requirements are satisfied.

That can create a different type of retirement asset for future spending.

If you eventually need a large amount of money for care, having traditional, Roth, and outside assets available may give you more choices than having nearly everything inside a traditional IRA.

The value isn’t knowing exactly what your care will cost 20 years from now.

The value may be having more than one place to get the money.

The Problem With Having Almost Everything in a Traditional IRA

Imagine you’re 62.

You and your spouse have:

• $1.8 million in traditional IRAs
• $150,000 in Roth IRAs
• $200,000 in cash
• A paid-off home
• Social Security planned later

You’ve done a great job saving.

But almost all of the investable retirement wealth is tax-deferred.

Now fast-forward 15 years.

One spouse needs significant care.

Your normal retirement spending was manageable.

Then the care expense changes everything.

You may need to pull substantially more money from retirement accounts.

If most of that money comes from a traditional IRA, the withdrawals can generally create taxable income to the extent they represent pre-tax dollars.

The care bill and the tax bill can show up in the same year.

Long-Term Care Is Really a Liquidity Problem

People often talk about long-term care as an insurance question.

Insurance can certainly be part of the conversation.

But from a retirement-planning standpoint, it’s also a liquidity question.

If a care event happens, where does the money come from?

You may have:

• Cash
• Taxable investments
• Traditional IRAs
• 401(k)s
• Roth IRAs
• Insurance benefits
• Annuity benefits when applicable
• Home equity

Those sources don’t all have the same tax treatment, liquidity, guarantees, restrictions, or economic consequences.

A $100,000 account balance doesn’t necessarily mean $100,000 of spendable money after taxes and other considerations.

Example: A $100,000 Care Expense

Suppose you’re retired and suddenly need an additional $100,000 for care during the year.

Where does it come from?

If you withdraw the money from a traditional IRA containing pre-tax dollars, that distribution is generally included in taxable income.

If you have Roth assets and the distribution is qualified under current federal rules, the Roth distribution is generally tax-free.

That doesn’t automatically mean Roth is the right account to spend first.

There may be good reasons to use traditional IRA money.

There may be deductible medical expenses.

There may be estate considerations.

There may be cash available.

There may be insurance benefits.

But now you have choices.

Tax diversification becomes more noticeable when your spending suddenly jumps.

What If the Care Lasts Several Years?

This is where the planning problem gets bigger.

A one-year expense can hurt.

A multi-year care event can change the entire retirement plan.

Imagine needing substantial additional withdrawals for:

• Year 1
• Year 2
• Year 3
• Year 4

Now you’re not deciding how to fund one bill.

You’re deciding how to fund an entirely different lifestyle.

If every additional dollar has to come from a traditional IRA, taxable income can rise with the withdrawals.

A meaningful Roth balance can potentially give you another bucket to work with.

Could Long-Term Care Expenses Reduce the Tax Cost of IRA Withdrawals?

Possibly, in some situations.

This is why I don’t want to oversimplify the analysis.

Current federal rules allow certain qualified long-term care services to be treated as medical expenses when the requirements are satisfied.

Certain qualified long-term care insurance premiums may also potentially be included as medical expenses, subject to age-based and other limitations.

Whether that actually produces a tax deduction for you is a separate question.

Your itemized deductions, adjusted gross income, the nature of the care, reimbursements, and other tax rules matter.

Don’t assume every dollar spent on assisted living or caregiving automatically creates a dollar-for-dollar tax deduction.

Have your tax professional evaluate the actual expenses.

This Creates an Interesting Roth Conversion Question

Suppose you’re healthy at 60.

You have a $2 million traditional IRA.

You think:

“If I need care later, I’ll just take money from the IRA.”

You can.

But what will the rest of your tax return look like in those years?

Will you already have Social Security?

A pension?

RMDs?

Investment income?

Will your spouse still be alive?

Will you be filing jointly or as a single taxpayer?

Will part of your care costs qualify as deductible medical expenses?

We don’t know all of those answers today.

That’s the point.

Creating tax diversification before the care event may give the future version of you more options.

The Surviving Spouse Scenario Matters Even More

Consider a married couple with $2 million in traditional retirement assets.

One spouse develops dementia.

Care costs rise.

Several years later, that spouse dies.

Now the surviving spouse may still have:

• A substantial traditional IRA
• Future RMDs
• One Social Security benefit instead of two
• One household to maintain
• Potentially different federal filing status
• The possibility of needing care personally later

This is one reason long-term care planning and Roth conversion planning shouldn’t always live in separate conversations.

“I Don’t Want to Ask My Kids for Help”

This is where the financial question becomes personal.

You don’t just fear the nursing home bill.

You fear losing control.

You think:

“I don’t want to ask my kids for help.”

You don’t want your daughter managing every bill.

You don’t want your son wondering whether he needs to quit his job to help you.

You don’t want your children arguing over what Mom or Dad can afford.

You want enough resources and enough flexibility to make your own decisions for as long as possible.

For many retirees, independence is the real long-term care goal.

“We Should Be Able to Handle This Ourselves”

You’ve saved for decades.

You paid off the house.

You built a seven-figure IRA.

You think:

“We should be able to handle this ourselves.”

Financially, maybe you can.

But having enough assets and having those assets positioned efficiently aren’t exactly the same question.

If nearly every retirement dollar is tax-deferred, you may have fewer tax choices when a large expense arrives.

“What If We Mess This Up and Regret It?”

This fear works in both directions.

You could convert too aggressively now and regret paying a large tax bill.

Or you could avoid Roth conversions completely and later wish you had more tax flexibility.

You think:

“What if we mess this up and regret it?”

That’s why the answer isn’t:

“Convert because long-term care is expensive.”

That’s not enough.

We need to compare the conversion against doing nothing.

The Hidden Fear Isn’t Really Long-Term Care

For a lot of people, the deepest fear isn’t:

“What if I need assisted living?”

It’s:

“What if I lose my independence?”

Or:

“What if my spouse has to take care of me?”

Or:

“What if my kids have to make financial decisions because I didn’t plan this properly?”

That’s why retirement planning can’t be reduced to a rate of return.

The money represents control.

What If I Never Need Long-Term Care?

Good.

That’s the outcome everyone wants.

But a Roth conversion strategy shouldn’t require you to need care in order to make sense.

If the only reason a conversion works is because you’re assuming a massive future care expense, I’d want to see the numbers without that assumption too.

Compare:

• No major care event
• Moderate future care expenses
• Large future care expenses

A strong retirement plan should be tested against more than one future.

What If I Have Long-Term Care Insurance?

Then include it.

Don’t pretend the policy doesn’t exist when modeling future retirement expenses.

Review:

• Benefit amount
• Benefit period
• Elimination period
• Inflation provisions
• Covered services
• Premiums
• Policy definitions
• Other contractual provisions

The existence of long-term care insurance doesn’t automatically eliminate the value of Roth planning.

Insurance may cover part of a future expense while retirement assets cover the rest.

What If I’m Planning to Self-Fund Long-Term Care?

Then the location of your assets becomes even more important.

When someone says:

“I have enough money. I’ll self-fund.”

My next question is:

“From what?”

$2 million mostly in traditional IRAs creates a different funding picture from $2 million spread across traditional, Roth, taxable, and cash assets.

Same net worth.

Different tax characteristics.

What If My House Is My Long-Term Care Plan?

Some retirees assume they’ll sell the house if they need care.

That may eventually happen.

But don’t build the entire plan around that assumption without considering the real-life complications.

What if your spouse still lives there?

What if you want home-based care?

What if selling takes time?

What if the house is emotionally important to you?

Home equity can be valuable.

It isn’t always instantly available cash.

What If One Spouse Needs Care but the Other Stays Home?

This can create one of the hardest retirement cash-flow problems.

You’re not replacing one lifestyle with another.

You’re potentially paying for two.

You still have:

• Housing costs
• Utilities
• Food
• Transportation
• Insurance
• Normal household expenses

And now you may also have significant care costs.

That can force larger withdrawals from retirement assets.

This is where access to multiple tax buckets can become valuable.

Could Roth Money Be Saved Specifically for a Care Event?

Some retirees may choose to view Roth assets as a reserve rather than the first account they spend.

That reserve might eventually be used for:

• A major healthcare event
• Long-term care
• A large home repair
• Supporting the surviving spouse
• Legacy

That doesn’t mean Roth should always be spent last.

Withdrawal sequencing should reflect the actual tax and financial situation at the time.

But psychologically, having a separate source of potentially tax-free qualified distributions can create a sense of control.

What If I’m Already 65?

Long-term care planning may feel more real at 65 than it did at 45.

But 65 doesn’t automatically mean you’re too late for Roth conversion planning.

You may still have years before significant RMDs.

You may be retired.

Your taxable income may have changed.

You may have cash available to address conversion taxes.

Or Medicare-related income consequences may make large conversions more expensive.

Those variables belong in the model.

What If I’m 70?

Same principle.

Don’t start with your age.

Start with the financial problem.

How large is the traditional IRA?

What other assets do you have?

What income is coming in?

How much liquidity do you have?

What’s your health situation?

What does the surviving-spouse picture look like?

What are your legacy goals?

Then compare the alternatives.

Can a Roth Conversion Reduce Future RMD Pressure?

Potentially.

Moving money from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA through a taxable conversion can reduce the amount remaining in the traditional IRA relative to an otherwise identical no-conversion scenario.

That may reduce future RMDs from the traditional IRA relative to that no-conversion scenario.

The original owner of a Roth IRA generally doesn’t have lifetime RMDs under current federal rules.

This can matter in a care scenario.

If your normal taxable income is already being pushed upward by RMDs, additional traditional IRA withdrawals for care may add even more taxable income.

But Don’t Ignore the Tax Deduction Side

This is an important counterpoint.

Some qualified long-term care expenses may potentially be included in deductible medical expenses when federal requirements are satisfied.

That means years with very large qualifying medical or care expenses may have a different tax profile than normal retirement years.

In some circumstances, taking taxable traditional IRA distributions during a year with substantial deductible medical expenses could produce a different result than you might expect.

This is exactly why I don’t want to say, “Always use Roth for long-term care.”

The tax return needs to be evaluated.

Roth Isn’t Automatically the Best Account to Spend During a Care Year

This deserves repeating.

Maybe traditional IRA withdrawals make sense because qualified medical deductions offset part of the taxable income.

Maybe Roth withdrawals make sense because you want to control taxable income.

Maybe taxable assets make sense.

Maybe insurance benefits cover most of the expense.

Maybe you use a combination.

The value of tax diversification is that you don’t have to decide today which bucket future-you must use.

Could a Roth Conversion Hurt My Ability to Pay for Care Now?

Yes, if you convert too aggressively.

This is the other side of the equation.

Suppose you’re 67 and worried about future care costs.

You decide to convert $500,000 because you want a huge Roth reserve.

But the conversion creates a substantial current tax bill.

You use a large portion of your cash to address the taxes.

Now you’ve reduced the liquid reserves you may need for:

• Home repairs
• Medical costs
• Insurance premiums
• Emergency expenses
• Early care needs

That’s not automatically a win.

Don’t sacrifice today’s liquidity in the name of tomorrow’s flexibility without running the numbers.

Long-Term Care Planning Is Also a Spouse-Protection Issue

Suppose you need care.

Your spouse doesn’t.

The financial question isn’t simply:

“Can we afford my care?”

It’s:

“Can we afford my care while protecting my spouse’s retirement?”

Those are very different questions.

You don’t want a care event at 78 to leave your 76-year-old spouse financially exposed for the next 15 years.

And It’s a Legacy Issue

Maybe leaving money to your children matters.

Maybe it doesn’t.

If it does, long-term care can compete directly with that goal.

Every dollar spent on care is a dollar that isn’t ultimately inherited.

That’s life.

Your care comes first.

But the tax characteristics of the assets remaining after a care event can still affect what beneficiaries ultimately receive.

That belongs in the modeling too.

The Real Goal Isn’t “Pay Less Tax”

This is where people get Roth conversions wrong.

They turn everything into:

“How do I pay the least tax?”

That’s not the only objective.

Maybe you’re willing to pay more tax during healthy retirement years to create greater flexibility later.

Maybe you’re not.

The real goal may be:

“If life gets expensive later, I want choices.”

That’s a different conversation.

How Can Roth Conversion Taxes Be Addressed?

If the analysis supports a conversion, the current conversion-tax cost still has to fit comfortably within the retirement plan.

Option 1: Outside Cash or Taxable Assets

Outside cash or taxable assets may be used to address taxes created by Roth conversions.

This can allow more of the selected conversion amount to reach or remain inside the Roth.

But if long-term care is one of your concerns, don’t ignore the value of maintaining liquid outside reserves.

Cash has a job too.

Option 2: Retirement Assets or Withholding

Another approach may involve retirement assets or withholding.

This can reduce the amount ultimately reaching or remaining in the Roth and can create additional considerations.

Tax withholding and estimated tax requirements should be coordinated with a qualified tax professional.

Option 3: Contractual Carrier Bonus Value

When suitable, certain annuity contracts may provide contractual carrier bonus value that can be included in the broader economic comparison.

In some modeled scenarios, contractual carrier bonus value may economically offset some or potentially all of a conversion-tax cost over the strategy period.

This may potentially reduce the need for additional personal out-of-pocket cash from an overall economic standpoint.

The carrier does not assume your IRS tax liability.

A carrier bonus isn’t an IRS tax credit.

Your tax remains your responsibility.

Bonus terms, vesting, surrender provisions, liquidity restrictions, charges, participation rates, caps, spreads, crediting methods, income features, guarantees, long-term care or chronic-illness features when applicable, and other contractual provisions need to be evaluated carefully.

This Is Where Roth Blueprint Software Comes In

I don’t want to tell someone with a $2 million IRA:

“Convert because you might need long-term care.”

That’s not analysis.

Using our Roth Blueprint software, we can assess thousands of potential modeled Roth conversion scenarios within the broader retirement picture.

Then we can stress-test the strategy rather than pretending retirement goes perfectly every year.

What Can We Compare?

We can assess different:

• Conversion amounts
• Conversion years
• Multi-year conversions
• Variable annual conversions
• No conversion
• Projected conversion taxes
• Traditional IRA balances
• Roth balances
• Taxable assets
• Cash reserves
• Projected RMDs
• Retirement income
• Social Security
• Pension income
• Potential Medicare considerations
• Normal retirement spending
• Higher future spending assumptions
• Liquidity needs
• Surviving-spouse outcomes
• Beneficiary outcomes
• Legacy outcomes

Example: Stress-Test the Retirement Plan

Suppose you’re 60 and married.

You have:

• $1.7 million traditional IRA
• $200,000 Roth IRA
• $450,000 taxable investments
• $250,000 cash
• A paid-off home

Instead of asking only:

“Should we convert $200,000 this year?”

we could compare:

Scenario A: No Roth conversion.

Scenario B: $75,000 annual conversions.

Scenario C: $150,000 annual conversions.

Scenario D: Larger conversions during selected lower-income years.

Scenario E: Variable conversions based on income, taxes, and available liquidity.

Then stress-test those strategies against a future period of substantially higher retirement spending.

Now compare:

• How much traditional IRA remains
• How much Roth remains
• How much liquid outside money remains
• Projected taxes
• Projected RMDs
• Retirement income
• Surviving-spouse assets
• Legacy assets

Now the Roth conversion has to prove itself in a retirement that isn’t perfectly predictable.

What If the Conversion Wins Only When Everything Goes Right?

That would concern me.

A retirement strategy shouldn’t look great only when:

• You stay healthy forever
• Expenses never jump
• One spouse never needs care
• Taxes behave exactly as assumed
• Markets cooperate

We can’t predict your future.

But we can test the strategy against more than one version of it.

The Retirement Math Method™

This is why we use our Retirement Math Method™.

I don’t start with:

“You need a Roth because nursing homes are expensive.”

I don’t start with:

“Keep everything in the IRA because medical deductions may help later.”

Both are assumptions.

Instead, we make the strategies compete.

Maybe more Roth wins.

Maybe preserving more cash wins.

Maybe smaller conversions win.

Maybe an insurance strategy belongs in the picture.

Maybe a combination wins.

Maybe doing nothing wins.

I don’t try to sell you on the strategy. I make the strategy prove itself with the math.

Let the math do the talking.

Frequently Asked Questions About Roth Conversions and Long-Term Care

Can I use Roth IRA money to pay for assisted living or nursing care?

Roth IRA money can be withdrawn and used for retirement expenses, including care expenses. Qualified Roth IRA distributions are generally tax-free under current federal rules when applicable requirements are satisfied.

Can I use my traditional IRA to pay for long-term care?

Yes. Traditional IRA money can be withdrawn and used for care expenses. Traditional IRA distributions are generally taxable to the extent they consist of pre-tax amounts.

Are long-term care expenses deductible?

Certain qualified long-term care services can potentially be included as medical expenses under current federal rules when applicable requirements are satisfied. Whether those expenses produce an actual tax deduction depends on your broader tax situation.

Are long-term care insurance premiums deductible?

Certain premiums for qualified long-term care insurance contracts can potentially be included as medical expenses, subject to federal requirements and limits that can include age-based limitations. A qualified tax professional should evaluate the policy and your individual tax situation.

Should I convert my IRA to Roth so I can pay for future long-term care?

Future care costs can be one factor in a Roth conversion analysis, but they don’t automatically justify a conversion. The current conversion tax should be compared with future tax flexibility, liquidity, RMDs, retirement income, insurance coverage, surviving-spouse needs, and legacy goals.

Does Roth money have to be used for long-term care?

No. Roth IRA assets aren’t earmarked specifically for long-term care. They can potentially provide another source of retirement liquidity when qualified distribution requirements and other applicable rules are considered.

Could I leave my Roth untouched unless there’s an emergency?

Some retirees choose to treat Roth assets as a reserve for later retirement, major expenses, surviving-spouse needs, or legacy. Whether that withdrawal strategy is appropriate should be evaluated against the tax and financial circumstances at the time.

Can a Roth conversion reduce future RMDs?

A Roth conversion reduces the amount remaining in a traditional IRA relative to an otherwise identical no-conversion scenario. That can potentially reduce future RMDs from the traditional IRA. Original Roth IRA owners generally aren’t subject to lifetime RMDs under current federal rules.

What if I already have long-term care insurance?

Include the policy in the analysis. Insurance benefits, benefit periods, elimination periods, inflation provisions, premiums, covered services, and other contractual provisions can affect how much retirement money may eventually need to fund care.

Can Roth Blueprint model a future long-term care event?

Our Roth Blueprint process can compare thousands of potential modeled Roth conversion scenarios and stress-test the broader retirement picture using different spending, liquidity, tax, retirement-account, Social Security, pension, RMD, surviving-spouse, and legacy assumptions.

Long-Term Care Planning Is Really About Keeping Your Choices

You don’t know whether you’ll need care.

You don’t know exactly what it will cost.

You don’t know which spouse might need it first.

You don’t know what tax laws will look like decades from now.

But you do know something:

Retirement gets harder when you have only one place to get money.

If nearly everything you own is inside a traditional IRA, future spending decisions can also become tax decisions.

Building meaningful Roth assets may give you another option.

Not a guarantee.

An option.

And when health changes unexpectedly, options can matter.

Have $500,000+ in Tax-Deferred Retirement Accounts? Let’s Stress-Test the Plan.

If you have $500,000, $750,000, $1 million, $2 million, or more in traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, or other tax-deferred retirement accounts and you’re worried about what a future long-term care event could do to your retirement, don’t make the Roth conversion decision from a tax bracket alone.

When you meet with me, we can use our Roth Blueprint software and Retirement Math Method™ to assess thousands of potential modeled scenarios.

We can compare:

• No Roth conversion
• Smaller annual conversions
• Larger annual conversions
• Multi-year conversions
• Variable annual conversions
• Different conversion years
• Projected conversion taxes
• Different approaches to addressing conversion taxes
• Traditional IRA balances
• Roth balances
• Outside liquidity
• Normal retirement spending
• Higher future spending scenarios
• Social Security timing
• Pension income
• Potential healthcare-related income considerations
• Projected RMDs
• Retirement income
• Surviving-spouse outcomes
• Beneficiary outcomes
• Legacy outcomes

Then we put the strategies side by side.

Maybe building more Roth before a care event produces the stronger modeled result.

Maybe preserving more cash is more important.

Maybe smaller conversions give you a better balance between tax diversification and liquidity.

Maybe your existing insurance changes the answer.

Maybe doing nothing wins.

The point isn’t to predict whether you’ll need long-term care.

It’s to find out whether your retirement strategy still works if life gets more expensive than you hoped.

We don’t sell you a retirement strategy. We run the math and let you decide.

Let the math do the talking.

Schedule Your Roth Conversion Strategy Appointment

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Important Disclosure

This article is for educational purposes only and isn’t intended as individualized tax, legal, accounting, investment, insurance, long-term care, healthcare, Medicare, Medicaid, estate-planning, Social Security, or retirement-planning advice. FPP Financial does not provide tax or legal advice. Long-term care needs, costs, eligibility, insurance coverage, healthcare expenses, tax deductions, and government-program rules vary substantially based on individual circumstances and current law. Under current federal tax rules, certain qualified long-term care services can potentially be included as medical expenses when applicable requirements are satisfied, and certain premiums paid for qualified long-term care insurance contracts can potentially be included as medical expenses subject to applicable requirements and limitations. Not every assisted-living, caregiving, nursing, housing, medical, or long-term care expense automatically qualifies as a deductible medical expense, and the existence of qualifying expenses doesn’t necessarily mean a taxpayer will receive an income-tax deduction. Traditional IRA distributions are generally taxable to the extent they consist of pre-tax amounts. Roth conversions generally create taxable income to the extent converted amounts would otherwise be taxable. Qualified Roth IRA distributions are generally tax-free under current federal rules when applicable requirements are satisfied. Nonqualified Roth distributions can receive different tax treatment. Taxable Roth conversion income and retirement distributions can affect federal and state income taxes, marginal tax rates, capital-gain interactions, the federal calculation determining how much of Social Security benefits is included in taxable income, ACA Marketplace premium tax credits when applicable, Medicare premiums, estimated tax requirements, liquidity, and other parts of a financial plan. Required minimum distribution rules vary based on birth year, account type, beneficiary status, and current law, and required distribution amounts aren’t eligible for Roth conversion. Original Roth IRA owners generally aren’t subject to lifetime RMDs under current federal rules, while beneficiaries can be subject to distribution requirements. Roth conversions can potentially reduce future traditional retirement-account balances and future RMDs relative to an otherwise identical no-conversion scenario, but no specific tax, long-term care, healthcare, Medicare, Medicaid, investment, Social Security, RMD, retirement-income, liquidity, surviving-spouse, beneficiary, or legacy outcome is guaranteed. Roth Blueprint calculations and other projections are based on assumptions and information entered into the analysis and aren’t guarantees of future tax results, healthcare costs, long-term care expenses, account values, investment performance, retirement income, Medicare premiums, Social Security outcomes, RMD reductions, surviving-spouse outcomes, beneficiary outcomes, legacy results, liquidity, or product performance. Insurance and annuity products, including products with long-term care or chronic-illness features when applicable, may contain eligibility requirements, waiting or elimination periods, benefit triggers, exclusions, fees, charges, surrender periods, liquidity restrictions, bonus provisions, participation rates, caps, spreads, crediting methods, income features, guarantees, and other contractual terms. Guarantees are subject to the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurer. A carrier bonus isn’t an IRS tax credit and doesn’t transfer the client’s tax liability to an insurance company. Statements that contractual carrier bonus value may economically offset some or potentially all of a modeled conversion-tax cost aren’t statements that the tax disappears or that the carrier directly pays the client’s tax liability. Before completing a Roth conversion, taking retirement distributions, purchasing or replacing insurance or annuity products, relying on an insurance or chronic-illness benefit, making assumptions about deductible medical or long-term care expenses, changing a retirement withdrawal strategy, or making other decisions involving future healthcare or long-term care needs, consider working with qualified tax, legal, accounting, financial, investment, insurance, healthcare, Medicare, Medicaid, estate-planning, Social Security, and other appropriate professionals who can evaluate your individual circumstances and current rules.