The provider of our long term care insurance Genworth has given us the choice, for the past 2 years, of having our premium increase 20% or having our benefits decreased and paying current premium amount. Can they continue to do this or are there reasonable caps on the amount premiums can increase annually? If there are no caps, at some point, we will be unable to pay the increases or the benefits will have decreased such that it no longer make sense to continue coverage, leaving 20 years of paying premiums and receiving no benefits at all
Thank you for any information you may have on the subject. I am quite sure we are not the only 70 & 80 year olds who are having this occur with the seeming hope that we will have to cancel coverage as we approach the ages when we might need some care, and the insurance company might have to pay some benefits.
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Genworth probably can't break even with the payout needed on the older policies due to increasing costs and people living longer and low interest rates. Personally I'd bet they increase even more for the older LTC policies. Yours - I bet - was written in the 1990's, right? Personally I would pay the increase - if need be get your kids to chip in. you can't get a new policy. If you want LTC insurance, there is no option but to pay the increase. It will level out.
As an aside both MetLife & Pru have stopped writing new policies.
There is a really good article on ways to get the increase somewhat lowered - like get the benefits inflation rate reduced - that Michael Kitces wrote back in 2012 when the increases first started. Google his name & LTC rate increases. This site usually doesn't allow to posts links.
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