Someone turning 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care, according to the U.S. Administration for Community Living.¹ And care isn’t cheap. In 2025, the national median cost of a private room in a nursing home was $129,575 a year, and a non-medical caregiver at home ran about $80,080 a year.²

Your clients likely know care is a risk. Fewer have a plan to pay for it. And for people who’ve already been declined for life insurance, it’s easy to assume the door to coverage has closed. That may not be the case.

Two kinds of underwriting, two different questions

Life insurance and long-term care coverage are underwritten differently. A life underwriter is mainly estimating how long someone is likely to live. A long-term care underwriter is focused on how likely someone is to need help with daily activities, and for how long. The same health history can look quite different through those two lenses.

So, a client who was declined or heavily rated for life insurance may still qualify for long-term care coverage, including asset-based (hybrid) policies that pay for care and leave a death benefit if care is never needed.

What that can look like

Here’s a hypothetical example. A married couple, both 66, want a way to pay for care down the road. Between them, they have a long list of health conditions: osteoporosis, asthma, sleep apnea and a past blood clot for him; arthritis with two knee surgeries, Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure for her. Their applications for life insurance with long-term care benefits come back declined or rated.

Instead of stopping there, their advisor asks an asset-based long-term care carrier to look at the case informally first. The feedback is encouraging, so they apply. Both spouses are approved as applied, each with $10,000 a month in long-term care benefits.

Same couple, same medical history. A different product and a different underwriting lens.

Why an informal review matters

Sending formal applications to carrier after carrier can leave a client discouraged, and a string of declines doesn’t help anyone. An informal review lets a carrier’s underwriters look at the medical details before anything formal is submitted. It’s a low-pressure way to determine where a client stands and which carriers are worth pursuing.

Where you come in

Long-Term Care Awareness Month provides a timely reason to call clients about care. Start with the ones that may have been written off. Ask yourself:

• Has the client ever been declined or rated for life insurance?
• Do they have a plan for paying for care if they need it?
• Would they rather pay for care out of savings, or set aside dedicated coverage for it?

You don’t need to know which carrier will say yes. That’s where we come in. Send us the case, and we’ll help you start with an informal review to help find the right fit.

Have a client who was turned down for life insurance? Bring us the details. We’ll look at the case with you and see where long-term care coverage might fit.

Let’s talk

Have a client this could help? Bring the case to us and we’ll help you find the right next step.

Pat McEvoy
VP, Life Sales

Rena Nicholson
SVP, Life Sales

Call 913-814-0510 →