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Members of the generation that embraced rock music and rebellion will begin receiving their first Social Security checks in less than two years.

Born between the years of 1946 and 1964, the 78 million baby boomers changed American culture, but experts worry whether they’re financially prepared for the next big change in their lives: retirement.

While most boomers know it’s necessary to save for the years ahead, many overlook the importance of buying the correct mix of insurance products for the future. When people are young and working, insurance is a straightforward set of choices: health, life, home, auto.

However, as one inches closer to retirement, insurance choices become more complex. Buying health insurance through an employer typically goes away with retirement, life insurance may become unnecessary, and products such as disability and long-term-care insurance begin to seem like options they should consider.

According to Mike Crifasi, a certified financial planner in Atlanta, buying the right insurance is as important as tucking away retirement savings for the decades after one stops working.

Health insurance

America’s employer-based health-care insurance system can make buying such insurance difficult after retirement. Crifasi recommends finding a program from a well-known, reputable carrier.

"This is the first insurance I want my people to have," Crifasi says.

Disability insurance

Many people don’t believe injury or illness will prevent them from working. A disabling injury or illness is much more likely than death, yet most people purchase life insurance but not disability insurance. Don’t delay buying disability insurance, which will provide income —typically 60 percent to 70 percent of your recent income — in case you’re not able to work.

"It’s a living hell to be disabled before your retirement program kicks in at age 65," Crifasi says.

Life insurance

Although it’s popular and often straightforward, life insurance still has its complexities. Relatively inexpensive term insurance guarantees you a policy for a specific time period (usually 10 or 20 years) at a specific price. If you suffer an injury or illness during that time, the cost of buying life insurance after the term expires will likely increase.

It’s important to remember why you’re buying the insurance. For example, if your children are toddlers, you may want to buy 20-year term insurance to protect them until college age. But if your children are adults, and your partner doesn’t need the income, you may not need life insurance.

Long-term-care insurance

The most complex and least understood form of protection against unforeseen situations is long-term-care insurance. Only about 10 percent of baby boomers have purchased this product. Long-term-care insurance can provide independence after a disabling illness or injury.

Many people believe federal government programs such as Medicare or Medicaid cover the cost of in-home care and all nursing-home care. That’s not true. Medicare covers doctor and hospital visits and some prescription drug costs for elderly Americans. In most states, Medicaid covers primarily nursing-home costs only at designated facilities.

Long-term-care insurance, meanwhile, covers the cost of in-home care, helping people with the "activities of daily living," such as bathing, dressing,eating, drinking, home care and yard maintenance. It also can help pay for assisted living and nursing-home care.

What are the chances of needing long-term care? The Administration on Aging, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, estimates that one in two people will need long-term care. The cost of such care isn’t cheap.

Nursing-home costs typically exceed $50,000 annually. For in-home care, a licensed practical nurse costs about $37 an hour, while home-health aides earn about $18 an hour.

"Long-term-care costs can substantially erode retirement savings," says Robert Friedland, director of the Center on an Aging Society at Georgetown University.

When purchasing long-term-care insurance, buyers choose a daily or monthly amount of coverage, a time period for the coverage, inflation protection, and an amount of time they are willing to pay out-of-pocket expenses before coverage begins.

An important cost factor is the age at which one buys the insurance. As a general rule, a 55-year-old woman will pay more for the coverage than a 45-year-old woman. It’s also important to buy long-term-care coverage before one has a health event (such as a heart attack), which will trigger a higher premium.

While the cost of long-term-care insurance averages $1,900 annually, individual costs vary significantly. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)offers coverage to members. So do many private insurers and employers.

"There is no one-size-fits-all policy," says Eileen J. Tell, Long Term Care Group senior vice president.

More than 4,700 companies, including many small and midsized businesses,have begun offering long-term-care insurance to employees. Twenty-seven state governments and the U.S. government also offer this benefit.

To date, most federal employees have declined the coverage. Only about 200,000 of the 20 million U.S. government workers are enrolled in long-term-care insurance programs. That’s because the federal government, like most employers, does not subsidize the cost of the policies. And there’s another reason few employees have signed up for this important benefit: Employers haven’t educated workers about the benefits of the product.

"Companies haven’t put a lot into it," Friedland wrote. "They don’t push it hard."

Even if companies don’t subsidize a portion of the cost, there are benefits to signing up for long-term-care insurance through an employer. It maybe the only way some people can qualify for a policy.

For people with diabetes and other chronic health conditions, buying long-term-care insurance on the open market can be prohibitively expensive. But many employer-based plans accept all employees who sign up for the coverage.

Governments are beginning to acknowledge the importance of long-term-care insurance. In the past decade, Congress has passed two tax incentives designed to encourage the purchase of long-term-care coverage. In addition, 39 states "provide explicit tax breaks or special asset protection in Medicaid for those who purchase long-term-care insurance," Friedland wrote.

The Administration on Aging recently produced a campaign designed to raise awareness about the issue. Available at www.aoa.gov/ownyourfuture, the "Own Your Future" planning kit, which includes a book and compact disc, introduces the uninitiated to the topic, explains the advantagesof long-term-care coverage and helps consumers evaluate competing plans.