Interest Rate Increases Can Lower Long-Term Care Insurance Costs
The Federal Reserve decision to raise interest rates will have a positive impact on the future long term care insurance marketplace forecasts Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance (AALTCi).
LOS ANGELES, CA, December 22, 2015 – The decision by the Federal Reserve to raise short-term interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis will have a positive impact on long term care insurance companies and the products they offer.
“Most experts expect long-term interest rates will rise in the coming years,” states Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance (AALTCI). “Costs for mortgages and car loans will increase but there is a silver lining. Higher interest rates will benefit safe investments and also insurance products like long-term care insurance.”
Slome noted that 1-year CD rates were roughly five percent in 2000 and even in the four-percent range prior to the start of the Great Recession in 2007. “Interest rates have been at historic lows since then, which has especially impacted savings accounts, CDs, annuities, life and long-term care insurance products,” he notes.
Will avert raising premiums
Rising interest rates ultimately spell good news for the long-term care insurance industry Slome forecasts. “Both consumers and the insurance companies will benefit,” Slome adds. “Higher interest rates will enable insurers to avoid increasing premium rates with new policy offerings.” According to AALTCI data, a one-percent increase in (long-term) interest rates can translate into a 10-to-15 percent decline in policy premiums (costs).
“Companies currently offering LTC insurance policies will earn more money on the reserves they set aside to pay future claims,” Slome explains. “Financial strength is important for existing policyholders and those buying new coverage that will be called on to pay benefits in the future.”
Slome predicts the rise in interest rates may also encourage insurers who stopped selling long-term care insurance to re-enter the marketplace. “We have a growing aging population that will need care and clearly no government plans for dealing with the need or cost for care,” Slome says. “Consumers want affordable options that they can feel good about, and rising interest rates will benefit both prices and the sense of financial stability.”
The American Association for Long Term Care Insurance is a national trade organization established in 1998 to promote sound and affordable planning for Americans. For more information on long-term care insurance options or to find professionals in your area call the organization at 818-597-3227 or visit the organization’s website at www.aaltci.org.
It is true that most of the older LTCi policies have had large premium increases. To protect consumers purchasing policies today, 41 states have passed strict pricing regulations. Consumers purchasing policies today are protected from the pricing mistakes of older policies.
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This year nearly 300,000 people will make claims on their long-term care insurance policies and receive approximately $10 Billion in cash from those policies. The LTCi industry currently serves 7.2 million policyholders and is expected to pay out roughly $700 billion in claims over the life of those policies–the majority of the claims are for care received at home.
Scott A. Olson
Higher interest rates will allow insurance companies to secure better returns on investment, but it will also increase the cost of operating assisted living facilities, nursing homes and home health care programs. The PPACA has also increased the cost of doing business and the stigma of ever increasing premiums for existing LTCi clients is still an issue. Most people are unaware of the need or the cost of long term care and the destitute status that usually follows a prolonged care situation. Both the government and the insurance industry have failed to provide a reasonable solution for long term care. A solution that excludes both of them is probably the best solution .