My Wife Is My Insurance Policy: Household Bargaining and Couples' Purchase of Long-Term Care Insurance.

This paper examines household decisions over long-term care insurance (LTCI) purchases through a bargaining lens. Long-term care insurance purchase is a discrete decision around which spouses' interests may diverge substantially. The cost of buying LTCI is typically borne by both spouses, but the benefits of LTCI go disproportionately to women, who are more likely to need long-term care for themselves, and to benefit from the asset protection and other support LTCI offers in the event their husband needs care.