Nursing home care requires advance planning.

The cost of a nursing home can quickly erode everything you worked your whole life for, and leave your family with nothing, industry insiders warn.

The median annual cost of care in a skilled nursing facility in South Carolina is $42,000, according to a cost of care survey by long-term care insurance company Genworth. Don't expect Medicare to cover it, experts say, and Medicaid coverage doesn't kick in until the value of your assets is reduced to $2,000.

"A lot of people don't realize that in order to qualify for Medicaid, your assets have to be spent down to almost nothing. There are some provisions for protection of your home, but that may require equity being from that as well," said Craig Plank, Columbia State Farm insurance agent and financial planner.

Planning for long-term care includes both insurance and financial planning, though Plank said long-term care insurance options are limited.

"There are just a handful of providers left in the industry, but it's worth exploring what that looks like," he said. "Essentially that's a type of plan that allows you to pay a premium in exchange for coverage for a stay in an assisted care facility, full-scale care facility or even at home. Otherwise, without that, those financial costs can really burden someone's estate quite substantially."

Since the cost of long-term care is so high, Plank recommends planning for your later years as early as possible. He anticipates that in the next few decades, when the baby boomer generation starts requiring long-term or assisted living care, paying for it could become a crisis.

"We're going to have a substantial number of individuals who need elder care, specifically, assisted, or home health care, and even skilled care, and may not have private insurance to take care of it," he said. "Medicare does not extend coverage to that. There's some limited coverage after a hospital stay, but most people are going to have to face that cost head-on. And it can be quite substantial."

For people who are starting to save for future care needs, financial planners recommend putting away 10% to 15% of your income. If you're later in life and realize you don't have enough money saved, put away at least 20% of your income. IRS guidelines include catch-up provisions for people older than 50 for IRAs and 401(k)s.

Some group insurance plans offer long-term care options, and there are some endorsements that can be added to life insurance contracts that could extend living benefits...