State rejects one LTCI rate hike, cuts another

MedAmerica sold the policies from 2003 through 2010 and is no longer marketing them. The company said it was asking for the increase because interest rates have been low, and because it expects benefit periods to be longer than expected.

Connecticut actuaries said they believe the experience for the MedAmerica LTCI product has actually been better than the company originally predicted, both in Connecticut and in the rest of the country.

John Hancock — a unit of Manulife Financial Corp. (NYSE:TSX) — had asked for a 45.9 percent increase for 8,600 individual LTCI policies sold from 1991 through 2012. Connecticut regulators reduced the allowed increase to 15 percent.

John Hancock said it has been seeing longer-lasting and more expensive claims, in part because of longer policyholder lifespans. Connecticut actuaries agreed that the John Hancock LTCI policies involved have been performing worse than expected, but they said they believe the rate increase originally requested would be excessive at this time.