Consumers Still Want Long-Term Care Insurance

U.S. insurers may be leery about writing new long-term care insurance policies, but many consumers are eager to buy coverage.

About 63% of the middle-income consumers who participated in a recent Certification for Long-Term Care survey said they were interested in buying long-term care insurance. Sixteen percent said they were very likely to buy coverage, and 29% said their most likely planning strategy would be to talk to a financial planner or insurance agent about long-term care planning.

Only 61% of the upper-income participants were interested in buying LTCI coverage, but 24% indicated that they were very likely to buy coverage and 25% said their most likely planning strategy was to talk a long-term care planner.

What it means: Both upper- and middle-income consumers are thinking hard about the cost of long-term care.

Eileen Tell, the CEO of ET Consulting, one of the firms that managed the survey, said she thinks the results show long-term care planners need to work harder to reach middle-income consumers.

“Across all incomes, consumers need a plan for long-term care,” Tell said.

The survey: Certification for Long-Term Care — the Durham, North Carolina-based manager of the CLTC professional designation program — commissioned the survey.

Genworth’s CareScout business was a survey sponsor.

ET Consulting worked on the survey with Oliver Wyman, a consulting firm.

The survey team plans to present the survey results this week at a CLTC meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The survey team used an online system to reach 1,050 U.S. residents ages 35 through 74. They classified participants with income of about 67% of the median for their age group to 200% of the median as middle income and participants with income over 200% of the median as upper income.

The current median household income for Americans of all ages is about $80,000.