New York Life Long-Term Care Insurance Review and Costs

Pros and Cons of New York Life

New York Life Policy Options

New York Life offers two types of long-term care insurance policies: Traditional long-term care insurance and hybrid long-term care and life insurance. The benefits and names of these policies may be different depending on the state you live in.

New York Life LTCSelect Premier

Used to offset the costs of long-term care, an LTCSelect Premier policy provides reimbursement for assisted living, skilled nursing facilities, and home care, among other qualifying types of long-term care. Like most long-term care policies, LTCSelect Premier will come with a waiting period — in most cases, 90 days — before benefits begin. This policy type can be paired with optional riders such as inflation protection and premium waivers.

New York Life My Care Long-Term Care Insurance

Another stand-alone long-term care policy, My Care long-term care insurance provides similar benefits to LTCSelect Premier, but this option is a bit more affordable. Monthly premiums start as low as $30 per month, and monthly benefits can be anywhere from $1,500 to $7,000. Once you’ve satisfied your deductibles, you can even begin waiving payments of your premiums.

New York Life Secure Care

Similar to the other stand-alone policies, New York Life Secure Care reimburses policy-holders for certified long-term care services. The primary difference, however, is that Secure Care will begin to pay dividends after 10 years of policy life. These can be used to reduce your premiums, and, if the policyholder passes away before using all their benefits, any remaining dividends can be passed on to a designated beneficiary.

New York Life Asset Flex

A combined life insurance and long-term care insurance policy, Asset Flex functions like a traditional life insurance policy. You pay monthly premiums and receive a benefit upon death, but the long-term care component also provides reimbursement for certified care services.

If you’re interested in life insurance, then Asset Flex is a great way to provide an inheritance to your beneficiaries and remain covered for long-term care. If you pass away without needing long-term care, then your policy will still have a residual value passed on to your beneficiaries. The policy’s downside is the steep up-front cost. To purchase Asset Flex coverage, you’ll have to pay a one-time initial premium between $10,000 and $50,000.

New York Life Long-Term Care Insurance Costs

Monthly premiums for New York Life long-term care insurance vary from about $25 to $300. The cost varies greatly depending on your age, location, gender, policy type, and coverage amounts within your policy. Additionally, if you purchase a hybrid life and long-term care policy, then you can expect to pay one-time initial premiums.

New York Life My Care Insurance Premiums

How New York Life Long-Term Care Insurance Works

To receive New York Life long-term care benefits, you will need to choose a benefit period of two, three, five, or seven years, depending on your policy. You will also need to first satisfy a waiting or elimination period of 90, 180, or 365 days before benefits from New York Life will become payable.

Claims can be made either through the mail or through the New York Life online portal. In our experience, the online portal made for quick and simple claims processing.

New York Life Long-Term Care Insurance Additional Benefits

Depending on the specific policy, New York Life offers a variety of additional benefits and optional riders to augment the basic coverage of your insurance. These include:

• Three-year rate guarantees: New York Life guarantees your monthly premiums won’t increase for the first three years of your policy’s lifespan.
• In-home support equipment: Unlike other long-term care policies, New York Life helps pay for the purchase or rental of in-home support devices to help you receive care from the comfort of your home, up to $4,000.
• Inflation protection: Inflation protection allows your benefits to grow over time, shielding you from the rising costs of long-term care.
• Legacy benefit rider: The legacy benefit rider is designed to return all premiums (excluding any benefits paid) to the policyholder’s estate or beneficiary after they pass.
• Partners benefit rider: For couples, this benefit allows premiums to be waived for both policyholders if one meets the qualifications for waived premiums.
• Shared care rider: For couples, this rider provides a third benefit pool for either person to draw from if they max out their benefits.
• Care plan benefit: People who are insured (including family members) will gain access to an experienced care planner who can help develop a plan of care.
• Waiver of premium: If you’re getting long-term care benefits and have satisfied the waiting period, then you can get premiums waived.
• Hospice care benefit: Under this benefit, you can get care if you’re in a hospice facility or need hospice services in your home without going through the waiting period first — but only if you have a life expectancy of six months or less.

New York Life Performance

The Better Business Bureau gives New York Life a B- ranking for customer satisfaction. Unfortunately, New York Life Insurance Company is not BBB accredited, even though it has been in business for 177 years. It has also had 458 complaints closed in the past three years and 130 complaints closed in the past 12 months, with a customer review rating of 1.4 out of 5. According to ConsumerAffairs, New York Life has a rating of 3.9 out of 5, based on 258 reviews for overall customer satisfaction.

Insurance companies tend to have low scores from customer-review aggregators. New York Life’s scores are low, but they’re about par for the long-term care insurance industry.

Financial Strength

It’s important to align yourself with an insurance provider in strong financial standing. A.M. Best, a global credit-rating agency, gave New York Life an A++ (Superior) rating for financial strength. S&P Global Ratings affirmed its AA+ rating, and it has a AAA rating from both Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch. It has maintained high financial-strength ratings over the decades.