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Long-Term Care Solutions Gain Traction at the Workplace

Author

Ron Neyer, M.B.A., AIRC, CLU, ChFC
Associate Research Director, Workplace Benefits Research
LIMRA and LOMA
Rneyer@limra.com

November 2025

This article examines how workplace benefits carriers are responding to the growing need for long-term care (LTC) services among the aging population in the United States. According to Statista, only 8 percent of Americans were age 65 or older in 1950. This ratio climbed to over 17 percent in 2023 and is expected to reach 22.8 percent by 2050. At the same time, LTC services such as nursing home stays, assisted living, and home healthcare are very expensive and typically excluded from major medical insurance and Medicare coverage.

Private insurance can help defray these expenses, though retail advisors often focus on older and more affluent prospects. While the need for LTC solutions is less imminent for younger Americans, securing this protection remains vital to their future financial security. This presents an opportunity for workplace benefits carriers to reach these underserved prospects. If they can be convinced to protect themselves now, a longer time horizon makes coverage more affordable for younger, middle-income consumers.

Selling at the Workplace

On the surface, the workplace seems like a natural fit for marketing LTC solutions. Employers are a well-established distribution channel for many different types of insurance products, including voluntary options for which employees assume the full cost of coverage. It’s not surprising that some carriers introduced workplace LTC policies several years ago, when the popularity of these products was growing. However, most of these early entrants ultimately exited this channel following LTC’s overall sales peak in the early 2000s.

With a recent resurgence of LTC interest and activity seen in the retail marketplace, has this momentum extended to the workplace channel? LIMRA conducted two surveys of workplace benefit carriers in the past year to learn more about how they are responding. The first simply explored whether the carriers are offering solutions to address LTC needs, and a later survey examined their practices in more detail. Of the 40 carriers that responded to at least one of these studies, 11 currently market an LTC solution through employers (Figure 1).

Figure 1. LTC Solutions Offered


It is important to note that only two of these carriers offer stand-alone workplace LTC options. The remaining nine provide coverage through life policies that incorporate long-term care coverage and/or chronic illness riders, a trend paralleling the evolution in the individual retail market.

These enhancements allow the insured to accelerate the policy’s underlying life benefit when triggered by certain conditions. Seven carriers specifically link long-term care protection to their life plans, and another two offer only chronic illness riders. There are several material differences between LTC and chronic illness benefits, including cost, benefit levels, and qualification criteria. Still, both arrangements make funds available to the insured to address long-term care services if needed. Some carriers make both options available on their life products.

Carrier Impressions

Nine of the carriers currently offering workplace LTC solutions provided additional background related to their products, market experience, and expectations.

Product Design

  • Long-term care enhancements more often accompany whole life and/or universal life products than term insurance. With workers’ LTC needs often years or decades away, coverage is more valuable when bundled with products designed to provide protection for longer time frames.
  • With many employers significantly contributing to the cost of their employees’ major medical and other insurance plans, LTC solutions are typically offered on a voluntary/employee-pay-all basis.

Distribution

  • Carriers distribute their workplace LTC solutions through employee benefits brokers. Two in 3 also use general agents.
  • Expanding/supporting new distribution channels/partnerships is most often cited as a top carrier priority when considering distribution partners. The breadth of the distributor’s network and its technological capabilities are other important considerations.
  • Contemplating the top priorities of their distribution partners, carriers selected ease of doing business most often. Other important considerations include implementation/onboarding support, access to flexible product features/options, and enrollment support.
  • Carriers are targeting businesses of all sizes, with more than half looking at all segments above 100 employees. Employers with 500 to 999 employees appear to be their sweet spot.

Business Drivers and Strategy

  • Fulfilling a market need was a key business driver in all nine carriers’ decision to offer a workplace LTC solution, and the top consideration for six of these companies.
  • In thinking about how they differentiate their products, the carriers consider competitive product features and competitive pricing as their key strategic strengths.
  • All the carriers included product filing as one of the three most time-consuming processes in development of their workplace LTC solution. Development (system updates and implementation) and product design (product specifications, pricing, underwriting guidelines, compensation levels) were also oftentimes considered onerous tasks.
  • The most common primary challenges faced in offering workplace LTC solutions included enrollment technology and employee interest/poor participation.

Looking Forward

Four of the 29 carriers that do not currently offer a workplace LTC solution are planning to soon enter this market. Factors driving their interest include fulfilling a market need, rounding out their product portfolios, requests of their distribution partners, and generating cross-sale opportunities for other benefit types that they presently offer. Another seven carriers remain on the fence regarding whether they will introduce a workplace benefit solution over the next few years. One of these carriers is already jointly marketing another carrier's product.

While the remaining 18 carriers do not plan to enter this market soon, expect them and other insurers to keep a watchful eye on developments in this channel. As awareness of the need for LTC services and their corresponding costs continues to grow, consumer interest in obtaining protection should follow.

Those lacking personal relationships with advisors may inquire about workplace options since employees often appreciate having an opportunity to learn about and acquire various insurance benefits through their employers. The carriers already providing these solutions have a leg up, but there remains ample room for additional entrants, especially the insurers already selling other types of workplace benefits.

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