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February 23, 2022 at 03:26 PM
What You Need to Know
- New Hampshire wanted to limit increases for insureds ages 90 and over to 10%.
- A court argued that the approach was too rigid and threw it out.
- Insurers can now phase in any actuarially justified increase by pushing up premiums 20% per year for several years.
The New Hampshire Department of Insurance is trying to help state residents understand a new wave of long-term care insurance rate increase requests.
The department has posted a consumer rate increase process guide.
The state department was trying to set rate limits that would be looser for younger insureds and tighter for older insureds. The maximum increase for an insured ages 90 or older would have been 10%.
In 2021, the New Hampshire Supreme Court threw out the regulations, based on the argument that the department’s approach acted too much like a rate cap, rather than a flexible limit that could be adjusted to reflect an insurer’s solvency needs.
The department says that it’s now operating under different rules, and that many LTCI issuers are filing rate increase requests based on the new rules.
Christopher Nicolopoulos, the New Hampshire insurance commissioner, said in a comment that he wants consumers to be able to make informed decisions about LTCI coverage.
“Our goal at the NHID is for residents of the Granite State to be able to properly manage risk in a changing world,” Nicolopoulos said.
