Genworth Financial has asked the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to overturn a long-term care insurance rate ruling.
State hearing officers recently upheld a rejection of Genworth's request for a 161.6% increase for its Choice 2 and Choice 2.1 LTCI policies.
Officials objected to what Genworth told policyholders about rates and how it calculated its need for the increase.
A Genworth representative said Massachusetts rulings have limited the rate increase for the LTCI policies within the state to 40%, compared with a national average of 202%.
"Massachusetts policyholders are inequitably paying far less for the same coverage than policyholders in other states," the representative said.
The history: Genworth sold the LTCI policies from 2004 through 2012.
Three years ago, policies covering 10,899 people were still in force, according to Jean Farrington and Matthew Taylor, the Massachusetts officials who presided over the appeal hearing.
Like other LTCI issuers, Genworth is facing the effects of inaccurate assumptions about how LTCI policies would perform. The terms of the policy gave it a legal right to increase the premiums.
In 2018, Genworth asked for a 92% rate increase. Officials let the company phase in a 40% increase.
