Long Term Care Insurance – Friend or Foe?

I’m 62, near the upper limit age-wise of when someone would/should/could be buying long term care insurance. I’m on the fence. I can’t decide. Should I spend approximately $5K/year on a premium that could provide 300K or so of in-home or nursing home care should I need it sometime down the road? So, let’s say at age 85 I need the care: I’ll have paid $115K in premiums over that 23 year time span. If I use the full 300K then it looks like it’s a pretty good deal. If I don’t, not so much, except it does mean my health remained relatively in good stead.
I would love to hear from anyone who has made the decision to buy LTC insurance, and especially from folks who have actually used it or have parents or friends who have. Any issues with the insurance company when it finally came time to use the benefit? Have you seen premium rate increases since you bought it? While you can buy "level" premium LTC insurance, there is some fine print that states there is always the possibility that the premiums could increase if the government approves the insurance company’s request to do so. The company I’m looking at says they have had an increase and the rate was between 0-40%! How’s that for a ballpark? Has an increase happened to anyone and how much was it for?
Please share your experiences based in fact as opposed to "I heard about this guy…"