American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance

A growing percentage of consumers are selecting options that make long term care insurance protection more affordable.

According to a just-published report from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, the national organization that advocates for long term care insurance planning for individuals, some 23.5 percent of new individual buyers opted for a three percent annual growth of benefits.  The percentage of buyers in 2010 selecting this option was 16.7 percent.

“The inflation growth option increases your benefit each year but it can dramatically add to the cost of insurance protection,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the trade group.  “If a long term care insurance company is going to increase the value of your benefits by five percent each year, they have to invest the premiums to get that type of return something that’s really no longer possible today.”

The trade group director explains that for every half-to-one percent decrease in investment return an insurer needs to charge 10-to-15 percent in higher premiums.  “That’s why the five percent inflation option has become costly and more people are selecting a three percent growth option,” Slome says.  “Three percent is the new five percent when it comes to long term care insurance.

The percentage of those individuals purchasing a policy with the five percent growth option declined compared to the prior year.  “Once you explain the connection between investment return and the cost of increasing benefits by five percent people understand and make a choice to reduce their cost,” Slome concludes.  “It’s important protection that people want, but they also want to keep the costs as affordable as possible.

The Association report is based on their annual study of over 150,000 new individual buyers with data published in their 2012-21013 Long Term Care Insurance Sourcebook.

Based in Los Angeles, the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance is the national trade organization with the mission of educating Americans about the importance of planning for the risk of long term care.
For additional information or to hear from a member of the Association call the national headquarters at (818) 597-3227 or visit the organization’s website where access to a variety of free online long term care insurance planning guides is available.

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