More Consumers Are Counting on Help From LTCI: Bankers Life Arm

Insurers may be retreating from the U.S. private long-term care insurance (LTCI) market, but more older Americans are hoping LTCI will help them cover long-term care costs.

The percentage of older, middle-income Americans who expect to use LTCI coverage to pay for long-term care has increased to 17% this year, from 13%, according to new survey data from a research arm of Bankers Life and Casualty Company

(Related: Medicare Still Has an LTCI Image Problem)

Hope that LTCI coverage will pay the bills has increased even though only 12% of the survey participants said they have purchased LTCI coverage.

More Numbers

About 51% said they were familiar with LTCI but have not purchased it.

About 37% said they were unfamiliar with the product.

About 21% of the participants described LTCI as a necessary product, but 67% classified LTCI as a product that's merely nice to have.

About 19% of the participants said they are getting LTC planning help from investment advisors. Just 4% said they are getting LTC planning help from insurance agents.

Survey Basics

The research arm of Bankers Life — which, in turn, is an arm of CNO Financial Corp. — based the new results on a survey conducted in October.

The sample included 1,500 adults ages 54 to 72, with $30,000 to $100,000 in annual household income, and less than $1 million in investable assets.

All of the survey participants were born from 1946 through 1964, and all could be classified as baby boomers.

In 2013, Bankers Life's research arm commissioned a similar survey. The sample for that survey consisted of 1,299 Americans ages 49 through 67, with annual household income from $25,000 to $75,000.