LIMRA: LTCI-covered life count holds steady

By Allison Bell

March 07, 2014 at 10:33 AM

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Sales of private long-term care insurance (LTCI) fell sharply in 2013, but the number of U.S. residents with LTCI coverage held steady.

Karen Fisherkeller, an analyst at LIMRA, gave data supporting those conclusions in a summary of results from a recent survey of 24 private LTCI carriers.

The number of people covered by new LTCI policies fell 26 percent between 2012 and 2013, to 172,178, according to the LIMRA data.

Premium revenue from new sales fell 30 percent, to $406 million.

The average level of premiums generated by each of the new covered LTCI lives fell 5.4 percent, to about $2,360.

But, in spite of all of the news reports about massive increases in LTCI premiums, the number of people with LTCI coverage held steady at about 4.8 million.

Total LTCI revenue increased 3 percent, to $9.8 billion, and the average amount of premium revenue per life also increased 3 percent, to about $2,020.

Although annualized new LTCI premium revenue fell 20 percent or more at nine carriers, new premium revenue rose 20 percent or more at six other carriers.

"Lapse rates for individual LTCI remain low, with just 3 percent of policies unaccounted for at year-end, suggesting little or no uptick in lapsation," Fisherkeller writes in the report.

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