OneAmerica Hybrid Long-Term Care Insurance Review

OneAmerica Long-Term Care Insurance Plan Options

OneAmerica primarily focuses its products on life insurance and annuities, but it also combines both of these options with LTC benefits. All of its LTC-related plans are referred to as Asset Care, a suite of asset-based LTC options provided by the company. With LTC benefits through OneAmerica, you can get coverage for all of the following:

• Nursing homes
• Assisted living
• Home health care
• Hospice care
• Adult day care
• International LTC facilities
• Respite care
• Bed reservations
• Care coordination
• Caregiver training
• Supportive equipment

OneAmerica’s LTC insurance provides more guaranteed coverage than many comparable plans. For example, insurance carriers like Nationwide don’t guarantee coverage for respite care, international LTC, or bed reservations by default. OneAmerica also offers its plans to a wider age range than most carriers; anyone between 20 and 80 years old can apply. LTC carriers like Mutual of Omaha have a cutoff age of 79, while Securian and Brighthouse Financial don’t allow new applicants older than 75.

Below, we’ll take a closer look at OneAmerica’s plans to see how they work and what they offer.

Life Insurance With Long-Term Care Benefits

This OneAmerica plan allows you to attach LTC benefits to a whole life insurance policy. By paying 10 annual premiums, you can access a life insurance policy with an accelerated death benefit that can be put toward LTC costs. The death benefit will vary based on how much of your LTC benefits you use, ranging from 0 to 100 percent of the base amount. If you use all of your LTC benefits, you won’t have a guaranteed death benefit for your beneficiaries.

Still, there are some good reasons to consider a OneAmerica life insurance policy with LTC benefits. With this hybrid plan, your premiums will never go up, your LTC benefits will never go down, and you’ll get guaranteed cash value growth. Plus, with a minimum life insurance benefit of $50,000, you can rest easy knowing there are funds available to pay for your LTC and (potentially) additional funds to pass on to your beneficiaries.

Annuities With Long-Term Care Benefits

OneAmerica’s annuities plan with LTC benefits guarantees the growth of your existing assets and regular returns that can go toward your LTC expenses. Essentially, you move a certain amount of your current retirement savings to a OneAmerica fixed annuity account that focuses on long-term asset growth. The transfer of funds acts as a one-time premium payment, while your funds grow at a guaranteed interest rate. When you withdraw funds for LTC, these funds are credited at an even higher interest rate. As long as you use the funds for qualifying LTC, you won’t have to pay any income tax on the withdrawals.

OneAmerica’s annuities option is best for individuals or couples who have a sizable amount saved for retirement and want some of those funds to be earmarked for LTC care without sacrificing growth. It’s important to note that this type of plan doesn’t come with any kind of death benefit.

Available Riders

OneAmerica offers three riders that can be applied to either type of LTC hybrid plan:

• Inflation protection: This rider protects against the rising cost of care by providing an annual increase to the monthly LTC balance and monthly maximum benefit. You can choose between 3 and 5 percent compounded interest over a 20-year period or the lifetime of the policy. Even if you choose this benefit, your premiums will never increase.
• Continuation of benefits: If you use up the entirety of your LTC benefits, you can add this rider to extend your benefits to pay for more care. This benefit doesn’t extend the death benefit; it only extends the LTC benefits.
• Nonforfeiture benefit: If you fail to pay a premium and your policy lapses, this rider allows you to get back a portion of your paid premiums. This is essentially an insurance policy so that, if you run into financial trouble in the future, you can still get something back from your hybrid plan.

OneAmerica Long-Term Care Insurance Costs

One of the downsides of OneAmerica’s LTC solutions is the lack of pricing transparency. You can’t get a quote online, and even if you contact OneAmerica directly and go through the application process, the price can vary based on a number of factors. For example, a OneAmerica life insurance policy requires annual premiums, while a fixed annuity plan requires a large upfront transfer of your savings. The exact amount you’ll need to put into your annuity will vary based on the LTC benefit monthly maximums you choose.

Your costs could also vary based on any riders you add to your plan, as well as the LTC benefit period you choose (25, 33, or 50 months). According to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, a single, 65-year-old male can expect to pay anywhere between $1,700 and $4,200 per year for a LTC insurance plan.3 However, hybrid plans tend to be more expensive, and since OneAmerica offers annuity options, the amount you pay doesn’t always translate into a straightforward monthly or annual premium. It’s difficult to know exactly how much you’ll need to pay for a OneAmerica hybrid LTC insurance plan.

Underwriting

If you opt for a OneAmerica annuity plan, you won’t have to worry about underwriting. But if you want a life insurance policy with a death benefit, you must be in average or better health to qualify through OneAmerica’s standard underwriting process. The process begins with a telephone interview, and the results will determine the next steps you’ll follow. Assuming that you pass the initial screener questions, you’ll likely need to undergo a medical exam before you can be approved for a hybrid LTC plan.

While these steps are relatively standard for hybrid policies, OneAmerica is still more strict than some other carriers. For example, Brighthouse Financial has one of the least stringent underwriting processes in the industry, with a large percentage of applicants getting accepted for hybrid plans. Sadly, if you’re in relatively poor health or have a preexisting condition, you may not qualify for a life insurance plan with LTC benefits from OneAmerica.

OneAmerica Customer Satisfaction

OneAmerica has been in business for nearly a century and a half, and it has developed a good reputation thanks to strong financial records and positive customer feedback. Here are a few ratings from relevant agencies to consider:

• A.M. Best: A+ (strong finances)
• Standard & Poor’s (S&P): AA- (stable credit)
• National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC): 0.06 (very few complaints)
• Better Business Bureau (BBB): A+ (high trustworthiness and performance)

The ratings above indicate that OneAmerica has strong finances and few official complaints from consumers or businesses. It’s important to note that some customers have been less than satisfied with OneAmerica’s services. For example, OneAmerica currently has one out of five stars based on 15 customer reviews on BBB. Complaints tend to focus on long wait times for payments and difficulty contacting OneAmerica’s customer support team.

Final Thoughts

OneAmerica offers unique hybrid LTC plans, particularly if you’re interested in annuities. Considering that you can cover two people under one policy, pay for annuities with existing savings, and enjoy no waiting periods for home health care, OneAmerica is a great option for couples, those with substantial retirement savings, or older adults with informal caregivers. Nonetheless, it’s important to remember that OneAmerica isn’t transparent about its pricing and institutes a mandatory 90-day waiting period for most types of LTC.

Our Methodology

When evaluating the quality of LTC offerings, we focus on the benefits that a carrier or plan provides to older adults. We look at pricing, coverage, optional offerings, and long-term value, and compare this criteria to plans from other carriers. Ultimately, an LTC insurance policy should help reduce financial stress if you require care in the future. If a plan offers solid coverage without breaking the bank, we believe it’s worth considering. And remember, if you’re currently looking for a quality LTC insurance plan, visit our guide to the best LTC plans!