Long Term Care Insurance Rate History

The California Department of Insurance (CDI) collects data reports of companies who have had rate increases and those that had no rate increase on long-term care (LTC) insurance policies in California and other states for the current year and nine (9) preceding years.

Please select the "Rate History for Companies That Are Actively Writing New Business in California" below to view the active companies and their respective LTC Rates History reports. 

To request for inactive companies and their respective LTC Rates History reports for specific companies, please email the Data Analytics and Reporting team.

The LTC rates increase history is divided into two categories:

• Rate History for Companies That Are Actively Writing New Business in California and;
• Rate History for Companies That Are Not Actively Writing (Inactive) New Business in California.

The information is sorted by company name, policy category and policy form. If the company, or its policies, were sold to another company, the new company's name is shown as well.

The policy form number is an identification number used by the company and the Department of Insurance. The policy form number can be found in the bottom left hand corner of a long-term care policy, or in the Outline of Coverage, which you receive when you fill out an application for a policy.

List of Premium Increase Table Elements:

• Company Name - This is the company's name.
• Policy Form - This is the policy form number.
• Date Sold - This is the date that this policy form was first sold to consumers.
• Company From Which Policy Form Was Acquired - This is the name of the company that originally sold this policy form.
• Date Acquired - This is the date the form was acquired by the new company.
• Policy Type:
  • Group
  • Individual
  • Partnership
• Policy Category:
  • (COMP TQ) - Comprehensive Tax Qualified
  • (COMP NT) - Comprehensive Non-Tax Qualified
  • (HCO TQ) - Home Care Only Tax Qualified
  • (HCO NT) - Home Care Only Non-Tax Qualified
  • (NFR TQ) - Nursing Home & Residential Care Facility Tax Qualified
  • (NFR NT) - Nursing Home & Residential Care Facility Non-Tax Qualified
• Sold In CA - If policy form was sold in California, a CA is listed.
• Sold In Other States - If policy form was sold in other states, these state's initials are listed.
• Rate Increase Requested - The percentage or range of increase requested by company.
• Rate Increase Approved - The percentage or range approved by the state's department of insurance or its equivalent.
• Date Rate Increase Requested - Date that the company requested a rate increase from the respective state insurance department (if applicable).
• Date Rate Increase Approved - Date approved by the state's department of insurance or its equivalent.
• Date Increase Was Issued To A Policyholder - This is the first date that the increase was applied to policyholder.

Some Important Issues To Consider:

Remember that rate increases are not a sign of a "bad' policy, and the absence of a rate increase is not a sign of a "good" policy. Conversely, just because a company has not had any rate increases does not mean that it never will raise its rates.

Rate increases are a function of a very complicated process companies use to try to limit risk of paying out more benefits than the premiums they collect. Some companies screen people very carefully rejecting anyone who might have a pre-existing health condition. This "screening process" is called medical underwriting. Companies may also price their policies very conservatively to avoid any future increases, and their premiums may be higher as a result. Other companies may do neither of these things.

You may want to consider how carefully a company "underwrites" applicants. While it may be harder to get coverage from a company that uses strict underwriting, the risk of later rate increases may be less.

If you have a health condition and a company agrees to issue you a policy anyway, you may want to plan for later increases if you buy from one of these companies. Your agent can tell you all about medical underwriting by the companies you are considering.

Remember, when you buy long-term care insurance you should expect to keep it for the rest of your life. You need to choose a premium you will be able to afford to pay each year, far into the future.

When you decide how much premium you can afford to pay, it's a good rule of thumb to build into your calculation and planning an extra amount of 10 to 20 percent as a cushion against the shock of future increases. If there is no increase later you won't have lost anything.

Be sure to question your agent about rate increases before you complete an application. You can also write a letter to the company and ask them the same questions, then keep the company's letter with your policy if you decide to buy it.