Amelia Smith first bought into her long-term care insurance policy in 1994, for about $85 a month. Like many others, her premium rate has soared since then.
Smith, 89, said her premium increased nearly tenfold, to over $830 a month now. It’s a bump she said is not sustainable with today’s cost of living.
“My main concern now is with these things going up, up, up, how am I going to keep this insurance going?” she said.
And she’s not alone. Smith is among the state residents who want the Connecticut legislature to enact protections for residents seeing their long-term care insurance premiums soar.
Smith, a retired state employee, said paying the high premium on a fixed income has her deeply concerned about affording future care.
“I can't say exactly what would happen to me if I come to the fact that I would have to go to the nursing home, even stay in my home,” Smith said. “I don't know how much I would be able to have someone come in and look after me.”
According to the Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans, at least 20,000 retired state employees, and over 100,000 people in the state, have long-term care insurance.
Movement in the legislature
In March, a bill unanimously moved out of the Aging Committee addressing the crisis. Under the proposal, rate increase requests that exceed 10% would require a public hearing with the state Department of Insurance. Policyholders would also have to be given advance notice of any hearings.
Neighboring states like New York require long-term care insurance companies to publicly disclose potential premium increases, said Michael Werner, lead aging policy analyst with Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity & Opportunity in testimony.
Several industry opponents to the bill voiced concern about the public hearings aspect.
“Private insurers are not public agencies; they are regulated businesses that rely on data-driven decision-making,” wrote Jenna Grasso, policy director, CBIA.
As a Connecticut Mirror investigation found last year, the major rate increases are attributed to insurers miscalculating the cost of care, how many people will need it and life expectancy.
The amended legislation lawmakers are currently considering doesn’t include a portion about income tax deduction. Policyholders advocating for reforms to long-term care insurance said last month in a public hearing that the cost of the income tax deduction to the state is one reason reforms haven’t succeeded in the past.
Last year, a bill that included an income tax deduction passed the Senate, but wasn’t called in the House.
State Sen. Jan Hochadel (D-Meriden) who co-chairs the Aging Committee said people should not have to decide between affording the basics and their insurance policy premium.
“After they've worked for so long and worked so hard, they should be able to retire with dignity and looking forward to retirement and not having these horrific worries,” Hochadel said.
Before it’s taken up for a vote in the House or Senate, the bill still has to go through the Insurance Committee, she said.
“A lot of people say it's definitely not enough, but it was the thing we could do in the short session,” Hochadel added.
Amelia Smith is hopeful lawmakers will do something this year to tackle the rising premiums, but as for her own policy beyond 2026, Smith doesn’t know what she’ll do. She wonders if she should choose a plan that costs less with fewer benefits, “or just not even bother with it.”
“If it gets to the point where I have to let it go, I just have to let it go,” Smith said.
