Choosing the Right Long Term Care Insurance Company

How do you choose the right Long Term Care Insurance company when buying the insurance?  Your decision should not be made on price alone.  As with anything you buy you get what you pay for when buying long term care insurance as well.  You want to make sure you go with a company with a solid track history of NEVER raising rates and one with deep pockets.  Also, you you go with a big brand name company they will typically not nickel and dime you to death when trying to collect a claim because the company's brand name is very important to them and they will treat you fair. 

LTCtree only works with the top Long Term Care Insurance companies.  Genworth Financial (formerly GE Capital), John Hancock, MetLife, Prudential, Mass Mutual, NY Life, and Allianz Life.  When you can go with a big brand name company that has a great track history of paying claims and not raising rates for similar pricing, it makes no sense to choose another company, in our opinion.

Long Term Care Insurance companies Financial Strength Rating and Size Category

The average age most people need long term care insurance is around 79; with that said, you want to make sure that the company you choose will be there to pay your long term care insurance claim.  The below links are third party companies that rate the financial strength of the insurance company.  You only want to do business with companies that are A+ or better rated in our opinion.  If they are not rated that high then there is good reason for that so buyer be weary. 

Rating Agencies: A.M. Best's Insurance Reports; Standard and Poor's; and Moody's.

Long Term Care Insurance Premium Rate Stability

Long term care insurance companies cannot increase your rates for changes in your age or health. However, companies can file an appeal to your State's Insurance Commissioner for a rate increase for a class of long term care insurance policies in certain categories.  Rest assured they cannot just raise your rates on an individual basis. 

Your Insurance Commissioner will only grant these rates if they are financially necessary to help keep the company financially stable and from going "belly-up." Companies with high financial rating and deep pockets are less likely to be approved for a rate increase.  A general rule of thumb is if a long term care insurance company has raised rates in the past they are likely to raise them again in the future.