Maine’s top insurance regulator is warning that long-term care insurance is likely to get a lot more expensive for some policyholders.
The insurance product, which generally covers the cost of services such as assisted living facilities for the elderly, could nearly triple in price next year for some of the thousands of Mainers who have it, according to state Insurance Superintendent Eric Cioppa.
Long-term care insurance isn’t widely used because it can already be prohibitively expensive.
Cioppa said in a news release Tuesday that the state Bureau of Insurance will hold a public forum Thursday to discuss proposed premium increases of 56 to 178 percent being sought by one insurer, Genworth Life Insurance Co.
Cioppa said there are nearly 4,100 Genworth policyholders in Maine who will be affected by the increases, which are being sought on eight groups of long-term care policies offered by the company. The largest block, Cioppa said, has 1,570 policyholders in the state, and Genworth is seeking a rate increase of 141 percent for that block.
Cioppa said other long-term care insurers have been seeking increases, as well.
