Long Term Care Insurance Choices Expand for Consumers

Today marks the end of the 2016 open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act.  The number of insurance companies offering medical insurance has fallen. While choices for medical insurance are decreasing, long term care insurance choices have expanded for consumers.  In most states twice the number of companies sell long term care insurance compared to medical insurance Click To Tweet explained Scott Olson one of the nation’s top long term care insurance specialists and co-founder of the consumer website: www.LTCShop.com

In the 1990’s, there were over 400 different insurance companies selling medical insurance. In most states now, consumers have only 5 or 6 different medical insurance companies from which to choose. “Over the years, the long term care insurance industry has also experienced consolidation. But consumers today have at least a dozen different long term care insurance companies to choose from,” Olson explained on a recent conference call with financial planners and insurance professionals.

 

“Contrary to what is often published on the internet, today’s leading long term care policies have a variety of rich and diverse benefit offerings.  Consumers have more long term care insurance choices today than ever before.  It’s like walking down the cereal aisle in the supermarket.  There is a specific type of long term care policy for every taste.”

Some leading insurers sell policies that pay benefits for life. These policies never run out of benefits regardless of how long you may need long-term care. “Other leading insurers offer policies that have from $500,000 to even a million dollars of benefits. These policies would pay benefits for 8 years or more,” explained Olson. “Couples can even share policies which would extend their coverage to 16 years or more of cash benefits.”

Sales of long-term care insurance were up in 2015 for most of the leading LTC insurers. Click To Tweet“Over 100,000 people purchased long-term care insurance in 2015,” Olson shared. “Seven of the top ten long-term care insurers had an increase in sales in 2015.” Five of these seven LTC insurance companies had double digit sales growth. “One of the leading long-term care insurance companies had over a 75% increase in sales in 2015.  More long term care insurance choices combined with increased consumer awareness are behind this increase in sales,” Olson concluded.