Best Long-Term Care Insurance
Mutual of Omaha has the best traditional long-term care insurance because of its customizable options and great customer service.
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Best Long-Term Care Insurance Companies
To find the best long-term care insurance companies, ValuePenguin's experts compared coverage amounts, coverage length options and waiting periods for major long-term care insurance companies. Local agent availability, AM Best financial strength ratings and complaint levels from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) were also considered.
Our experts analyzed traditional, standalone long-term care insurance as well as life insurance with long-term care add-on coverage. Long-term care insurance can be complex, so companies that offered flexible benefits, multiple products and local agents were ranked more highly.
Best long-term care insurance companies
Mutual of Omaha, New York Life and Nationwide are the best long-term care insurance companies.
Company | Best for | Type of policies | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mutual of Omaha | Traditional long-term care insurance | Standalone policies and riders on life insurance | |
| New York Life | Flexible policy options | Standalone policies and riders on life insurance | |
| Nationwide | Hybrid long-term care insurance | Riders on life insurance | |
You should work with a licensed agent when you buy long-term care insurance because the policies can be complex. You often can't get online quotes and usually can't buy a policy online because of the complexity. An agent can listen to your needs and help you choose options that are right for you.
You can buy a traditional standalone long-term care insurance policy or add long-term care coverage onto a life insurance policy. Either way, having coverage can help you and your family avoid high costs if you need long-term care later in life.
Mutual of Omaha: Best traditional long-term care insurance
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ComplaintsFewer than averageBased on data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)
MutualCare Secure is a good basic policy, and MutualCare Custom gives you more options. For example, with all long-term care plans, you have to choose a "waiting period" or "elimination period." This is the amount of time you have to pay for your own long-term care before your plan will start paying. With MutualCare Custom, you can choose a zero-day waiting period, which means your plan will start paying for your care as soon as you need it.
The shorter your waiting period, the faster your long-term care insurance will start to pay for your living costs. You'll pay more each month for a shorter waiting period, but you won't have to pay for as much of your long-term care costs as you would otherwise.
MutualCare Custom also lets you choose an overall policy limit. With most long-term care plans, including MutualCare Secure, you choose how long you want your plan to pay for long-term care, such as two or five years. With MutualCare Custom, you instead choose a total coverage amount, up to $500,000. Your plan will then pay you the monthly benefit until you reach your total plan limit. With this option, you might be able to get care for a longer period of time.
MutualCare Secure | MutualCare Custom | |
|---|---|---|
| Benefit period | 2, 3, 4 or 5 years | Depends on overall coverage |
| Monthly benefit | $1,500 to $10,000 | $1,500 to $10,000 |
| Waiting period | 3, 6 or 12 months | 0, 1, 2, 3, 6 or 12 months |
Rather than setting a daily limit for long-term care costs, Mutual of Omaha structures its policies with a monthly benefit. That way, if your daily care changes throughout the month, you don't risk letting your coverage go unused.
Mutual of Omaha lets you customize your long-term care policy with several add-ons.
- Inflation protection: This coverage increases your benefits by a percentage you choose each year. Inflation means your benefits won't go as far because long-term care will cost more. Having an inflation guard on your policy helps shield your benefits from higher costs.
- Shared care: If you've reached the end of your benefits, this option lets you use some of the benefits on your partner's insurance. You and your partner must have identical policies to qualify.
- Security benefit: This coverage gives you an added monthly benefit you can use for your partner's care or living costs while you are receiving long-term care.
- Return of premium: If you don't use your benefits or you use only some of them before you pass away, this option refunds a portion of the monthly rate you paid into the policy to your loved ones.
MutualCare Custom also has an option to add extra coverage for home health care. That way, if the cost for specific types of home health care is more than your monthly coverage amount, your plan will increase what it pays.
Mutual of Omaha doesn't let you get quotes or see much policy info on their website. You have to talk to an agent to get quotes and info, which is probably a good idea anyway, given how complex long-term care insurance is.
New York Life: Best long-term care options
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ComplaintsFewer than averageBased on data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)
My Care is a good option if you're willing to pay for some of your long-term care costs. The plan works more like health insurance than other long-term care plans. You can choose between four tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. These aren't the same as the plan tiers in health insurance, although they have the same names. But like health insurance, higher tiers like Platinum give you more coverage.
Instead of a waiting period, My Care has a one-time deductible that you pay when you need long-term care.
My Care also has coinsurance, which means you and the company split the cost for long-term care. No matter which plan tier you pick, My Care pays for only 80% of your long-term care costs, up to the maximum monthly benefit amount. You have to pay the other 20% after you've paid the one-time deductible.
New York Life My Care benefits
Bronze & Silver
Gold & Platinum
Bronze | Silver | |
|---|---|---|
| Lifetime limit | $50,000 | $100,000 |
| Monthly limit | $1,500 | $3,000 |
| Deductible | $4,500 | $9,000 |
| Coinsurance | 80% | 80% |
New York Life is one of the best life insurance companies because of its customizable policies, customer satisfaction and high financial stability.
Secure Care is a more traditional long-term care plan, with a daily benefit, waiting period and benefit period. There are three Secure Care options: 100, 150 and 250.
Secure Care has a daily benefit for long-term care. This means the plan will pay up to the benefit amount each day that you need long-term care, whether in a facility or in your home. Daily benefits are common, but they can be problematic. If you have a daily benefit of $150, for example, but need only $100 worth of care that day, you can't get the leftover $50.
New York Life Secure Care benefits
Secure Care 100
Secure Care 150
Secure Care 250
Benefit | Amount |
|---|---|
| Lifetime benefit | $109,500 |
| Daily benefit | $100 |
| Waiting period | 90 days |
| Benefit period | 2, 3, 5 or 7 years |
With both My Care and Secure Care, your rates might go up after three years. For the first three years, rates stay steady. After that, though, the company could increase rates. Long-term care plans can be expensive. Make sure you can afford a higher rate before you buy one of these plans, in case your costs go up in future years.
If a standalone long-term care policy isn't for you, you can buy a specialized universal life insurance policy with long-term care coverage, called Asset Flex. Your rate is guaranteed to never increase, and you can even get your money back if you never need the long-term care coverage, as long as you meet certain requirements. Plus, because it's also a life insurance policy, your loved ones will get a sum of money if you pass away.
With traditional long-term care insurance, it's possible to pay for decades before you use the benefits. And you might never need long-term care, which means you might pay tens of thousands of dollars for a policy you never use.
Rates for Asset Flex start at $10,000. This might seem high, but it could be cheaper over time than a standard long-term care policy. You can also sign up for a payment plan to pay the policy cost in installments. Asset Flex could be a good option if you aren't sure you'll need long-term care but still want peace of mind that you have coverage, just in case.
Nationwide: Best hybrid long-term care insurance
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Editor ratingNot ratedValuePenguin's editorial team scores insurance companies based on independent research, factoring in customer support, affordability, coverage and overall shopping experience.
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ComplaintsNot availableBased on data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)
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What is long-term care insurance?
Long-term care insurance helps pay for services and programs that can assist you with daily life tasks.
You'll usually have coverage for nursing homes, assisted living facilities, in-home care, adult day care and memory care homes.
You're typically eligible for long-term care when you can't perform two or more "activities of daily living" (ADLs) without help. These activities include:
- Bathing or showering
- Dressing
- Eating
- Getting in and out of bed or a chair
- Using the restroom
- Walking
How to get the best long-term care insurance
Working with a licensed insurance agent or financial planner can help you get the best long-term care coverage.
To get the right policy, you need to understand your situation and decide what your goals are for care as you age.
Find an agent or financial planner. Long-term care insurance has a lot of components, and many companies offer policies that are relatively unique. An agent or financial planner, especially one that works with multiple insurance companies, can help you understand your options and choose a policy.
Think about your needs as you age. For example, do you think you might need to be in a memory care facility? Do you want to have coverage for in-home care? Understanding your needs will help you and your agent or financial advisor choose a long-term care option that fits your situation.
Decide which type of coverage is best. Work with your agent or advisor to decide if a traditional long-term care policy or a rider on a life insurance policy is the better option for you. Traditional policies often have better coverage, but a rider gives you both long-term care coverage and life insurance coverage.
Shop around. As with other types of insurance, it can be helpful to shop around and consider your options. An agent or financial advisor can often shop around for you. However, comparing long-term care insurance isn't like comparing other types of coverage. Different companies offer vastly different policies, so it's important to consider price and coverage.
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Alternatives to long-term care insurance
Long-term care insurance can be expensive. There's also no guarantee that you'll need long-term care, which means you could buy a policy and never use it. But with the cost of long-term care being so high, it's a good idea to have some kind of plan in place in case you do need assistance.
- State programs: Because long-term care is so expensive, many states offer programs to help eligible residents pay for nursing homes or other facilities. Check the programs in your state to know what options you have.
- Medicaid: Medicaid might help offset the cost of a nursing home. Not all nursing homes accept Medicaid as payment, though, so be sure to research facilities first. To get Medicaid, you usually have to meet certain low-income requirements.
- Savings: If you have the ability to save for long-term care, you could pay for it yourself. Nursing homes are expensive, though. Costs can easily reach $100,000 or more per year. To maximize how far your savings will go, you could start putting away money well ahead of when you'll need long-term care.
Frequently asked questions
What company is the best for long-term care insurance?
Mutual of Omaha sells the best traditional long-term care policies. The company has two plans, MutualCare Secure Solution and MutualCare Custom Solution, that give you up to $10,000 per month for long-term care. The Custom Solution plan offers an option that gives you coverage from the first day you go into a long-term care facility. Usually, you have to pay the cost for care for the first one to three months before your plan starts paying.
What is the biggest drawback of long-term care insurance?
Long-term care insurance can be expensive, and not everyone will need care as they age. That means you might end up paying an expensive rate for a policy that you never use. However, more than two-thirds of people age 65 or older will need some kind of long-term care. A long-term care policy can help you afford that higher level of care if you need it.
Is long-term care insurance really worth it?
If you end up needing long-term care, a plan can be worth it. Most plans cover between $100 and $300 per day for long-term care, which adds up to $3,000 to $9,000 per month. That level of coverage can make a huge difference, especially if you would otherwise struggle to afford nursing home care or assisted living.
Methodology and sources
ValuePenguin chose the best long-term care insurance companies based on the kinds of coverage sold, the flexibility of benefits and the availability of local agents. Third-party ratings were used to determine a company's financial strength and level of service.
Sources for this article include:
- AM Best
- Genworth Financial
- The Department of Health and Human Services
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National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)
- Nationwide
- New York Life
- Mutual of Omaha
About the Author
Senior Writer
Licensed Insurance Agent
Cate Deventer is a Senior Writer who specializes in health insurance, Medicare, auto and home insurance. She's been a licensed insurance agent since 2011.
She started her insurance career working as a customer service agent for State Farm. She later moved to an independent agency, where she worked with several insurance companies and hundreds of clients. She quoted policies, filed claims and answered insurance questions. In 2021, she pivoted her career and began writing about insurance for Bankrate. She moved to ValuePenguin in 2023 and began writing about health insurance and Medicare.
Cate has a passion for helping readers choose insurance to fit their needs. She enjoys knowing that her research and knowledge help people choose insurance products that make a positive difference in their lives.
How insurance helped Cate
Cate used her health insurance knowledge to navigate a surgery in 2023. Understanding how her policy worked let her focus on recovery instead of worrying about bills.
Expertise
- Health insurance
- Medicare & Medicaid
- Auto insurance
- Home insurance
- Life insurance
Credentials
- Licensed Life, Accident & Health Insurance Agent
- Licensed Property & Casualty Insurance Agent
Referenced by
- CBS
- NBC
- Wall Street Journal
Education
- BA, Theatre, Purdue University
- BA, English, Indiana University
Editorial Note: The content of this article is based on the author's opinions and recommendations alone. It has not been previewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed by any of our network partners.
