Planning Briefs

Forty percent of Americans over the age of 65 suffer from a physical or cognitive disability and the number of those requiring long term care is growing sharply. However,  buying insurance that will pay for long-term care a decade or two from now involves actuarial calculations and is an area of personal finance where professional guidance can be particularly important.  This is an alert about long-term care insurance (LTCI).

LTCI policyowners have been forced for many years to accept lower benefits or pay more to keep their policy’s current benefits. Even though the insurance business is regulated by state government authorities, and insurers are required under the law to request approval before changing a policyowner’s benefits or raising premium prices, most rate hike requests by insurers receive full or partial approval.