November is Long-Term Care Awareness Month and it is with great sadness that Mass Mutual is leaving the stand-alone Long-Term Care space. Of particular significance is the abandonment of the New York State Partnership for Long Term Care.

New York State Partnership for Long-Term Care

What is the Partnership?

The NYS Partnership for Long-Term Care (NYSPLTC) is a unique Department of Health program combining private long-term care insurance and Medicaid Extended Coverage (MEC). Its purpose is to help New Yorkers financially prepare for the possibility of needing nursing home care, home care, or assisted living services someday. The program works by allowing an individual or couple who purchases a Partnership insurance policy and keeps in effect to hold onto all or part of their assets (depending on the type of policy purchased) under the Medicaid program if their long-term care needs extend beyond the period covered by their policy.

New York was the first of many states to develop such a program which was designed as an incentive for individuals to prepare by purchasing insurance for their future long-term care eventual care costs and reduce the exposure from New York State Medicaid funds by purchasing this product.

2021 will no longer have a stand-alone partnership product, therefore, negating all future purchases in this program.

70 percent of all people turning age 65 will need some sort of aid and or assistance in their senior years.   The other 30 percent will have to take care of our seniors as will their children and siblings. This is taking an emotional and financial toll on every family in the United States.

Fortunately, MSPG can offer you multiple planning solutions to mitigate this potential financial shortfall. 

MassMutual to sunset sale of SignatureCare LTC products

MassMutual has made the decision to stop offering for sale its traditional long-term care insurance (LTCi) policies as a result of low traction with its current offering. No new applications for SignatureCare policies will be accepted after Jan. 28, 2021. Importantly, MassMutual will continue to service existing LTCi policies, and policy owners can count on MassMutual to be there for them if they need to rely on the coverage those policies provide.

Long-term care planning solutions
For brokers interested in exploring long-term care planning solutions for their clients, there are other options available. MassMutual’s portfolio of individual insurance solutions includes:

• Hybrid LTC-Life products, such as CareChoice One and the recently introduced CareChoice Select.
• Permanent life insurance riders that allow for acceleration of the death benefit to help pay for long term care expenses, including the LTCAccess Rider and new chronic illness riders available this November.