Thrivent Long-Term Care Insurance Review

Thrivent Long-Term Care Insurance Plan Options

Thrivent offers a traditional LTC insurance plan that you can customize to meet your needs. You can expect the following standard coverage options from every Thrivent LTC plan:

• Home care
• Assisted living
• Nursing home
• Adult day care
• Hospice care

Thrivent also offers the following perks and benefits, regardless of the customization options you choose:

• A personal care manager to help coordinate your services
• Coverage for eligible Durable Medical Equipment (DME) and home modifications
• Training for an informal caregiver
• Respite care for an informal caregiver
• Coverage for alternative care
• Bed reservation for up to 60 days
• Limited international LTC coverage

There are also many ways to customize your plan so that it can meet your care-based requirements and budget. Once you begin the application process, you’ll have the option to choose the exact benefits and plan options you want. Some of the most important decisions you’ll need to make include:

• Maximum monthly benefit (between $1,500 and $15,000)
• Benefit multiplier (two to five years)
• Elimination period (30, 90, or 180 days)
• Premium payment timeline (lifetime or 10-year)

You can apply and be accepted for a Thrivent long-term care insurance plan if you’re anywhere between 18 and 79 years of age. Since you can access a personal care manager and ample benefits for informal caregivers, a Thrivent LTC plan is often best for older adults who want assistance coordinating their care, but may also have friends or family members who can provide assistance with certain daily needs.

Thrivent CareForward

In addition to the traditional LTC insurance plan, Thrivent offers CareForward, which is a hybrid plan combining long-term care and life insurance. With CareForward, you get all of the same benefits and options as the traditional plan, plus a death benefit that varies based on the amount of long-term care benefits you use during your lifetime. One of the biggest perks of choosing CareForward is that your premiums are guaranteed to stay the same for the duration of your plan.

Both of Thrivent’s plans also offer dividend plans to help increase the value of your benefits over time. This is a substantial bonus compared to other popular providers like Lincoln Financial or Nationwide, neither of which offer dividend payments.

And though it will likely have no effect on your ability to acquire a Thrivent LTC plan and use the benefits, it’s also important to consider the company’s religious affiliation. Thrivent is a Christian business and previously only offered policies to Christians. Over the past few years, the company quietly removed these restrictions and made its products available to applicants of all faiths. Still, it’s important to consider that the company specifically designs its business and products around Christian values, which may or may not align with your personal beliefs or interests.

Available Riders

After you’ve decided on some of the most important elements of your plan, you’ll also have the option to add various riders and extra perks, such as:

• Cash benefit rider: This gives you a separate cash benefit that can be used for anything you want. The amount equals 10 or 15 percent of your maximum monthly benefit, depending on the type of care you’re currently using. The cash benefit rider is not available unless you’re actively using long-term care.
• Elimination period waiver rider: With this paid rider, you can waive your elimination period for eligible in-home care or adult day care. The number of waived days you receive with this rider can also contribute to your elimination period for other types of care, potentially reducing the cost of future LTC.
• Survivorship benefit rider: If you or your partner have had your LTC plan for at least 10 years and never required long-term care, the surviving partner will no longer need to pay premiums (certain exclusions apply).
• Return of premium rider: If you pass away after having a plan for 10 years, this rider will pay out a lump sum to your surviving partner or beneficiary equal to the amount of paid premiums minus any used benefits.
• Nonforfeiture benefit rider: If you’ve had your plan for at least three years and choose to terminate your contract early, you can still receive reduced monthly benefits.
• Shared care benefit rider: If you and your partner have identical Thrivent LTC insurance plans, you can share your benefits. In other words, if you or your partner use your maximum benefits, you can “borrow” any available benefits from the other plan. This benefit cannot be combined with the return of premium rider.
• Annual increase benefit: Your maximum monthly benefit will increase each year by a rate between 1 and 5 percent. This benefit does not affect the cost of your premium.
• Flexible increase benefit: This benefit gives you the option to accept or decline an annual 5 percent increase to your maximum monthly benefit. Accepting this benefit will increase your premium, but if you decline for three years in a row, you will no longer have the option to increase your benefit.

Thrivent’s Long-Term Care Insurance Cost

You cannot get a quote for a Thrivent LTC plan online, and Thrivent offers very little pricing transparency. That said, the carrier has many customization options that are specifically designed to help reduce your out-of-pocket costs, like lower monthly benefits and longer elimination periods (twice as long as many competitors).

According to data from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, the average annual cost of an LTC plan for a 65-year-old could range anywhere from $1,700 to $7,225.2 However, the lack of pricing transparency makes it difficult to know where Thrivent falls within this range. While Thrivent offers a very comprehensive cost calculator to estimate your lifetime LTC costs, it does not offer quotes or estimates for the cost of your insurance plan. Alternatively, providers like Mutual of Omaha make it easy to estimate the cost of long-term care and the cost of your plan in seconds.3

Underwriting

Thrivent implements different underwriting processes depending on specific age ranges.4 Here’s what you can expect based on your age:

• 18 to 59: Personal history interview, prescription check, and insurance claim check
• 60 to 69: Physician statement, personal history interview, Minnesota Cognitive Acuity Screening, and insurance claim check
• 70 or over: Physician statement, face-to-face assessment, Minnesota Cognitive Acuity Screening, and insurance claim check

If you do not have a physician’s statement from within the last two years, you may be required to meet additional requirements. It’s also important to note that Thrivent has various “preferred” criteria, such as a BMI between 18 and 30, and “uninsurable” conditions, such as Alzheimer's. Compared to providers like Brighthouse Financial, which has somewhat lax underwriting requirements, Thrivent is relatively strict. This can make it harder to qualify for a plan with an affordable premium.

Thrivent Customer Satisfaction

Thrivent has relatively high ratings as a business, though its customer satisfaction varies based on reviews published online. Here are a few of the relevant ratings to consider:

• A.M Best: A++
• Standard and Poor’s: AA+
• NAIC: 0.02
• BBB: A+

Based on high ratings from A.M Best and Standard and Poor’s, Thrivent has strong credit and financial records. The ratings from NAIC and BBB indicate that Thrivent receives relatively few complaints compared to insurance carriers of comparable sizes. To put these scores in perspective, MassMutual received the same rating from both A.M Best and Standard and Poor’s, though slightly lower ratings of 0.03 from NAIC and “A” from BBB.

It’s important to note that Thrivent has a BBB customer rating of just 1.59 out of 5 stars based on 27 reviews. This indicates that, while the company receives relatively few official complaints, some customers have not had overly positive experiences. Nonetheless, Thrivent outperforms many of its competitors when it comes to both finances and overall customer satisfaction.

Final Thoughts

Thrivent offers enough LTC customization options to meet the needs of most older adults. Plus, with a great cost calculator to see how much you’ll likely spend on long-term care, Thrivent makes it easier to decide if LTC insurance is the right choice for you. However, it would be better for many applicants if Thrivent offered better pricing transparency and a more inclusive underwriting policy. Still, Thrivent has great credentials as an insurance carrier, making it one of the better long-term care insurance carriers on the market.

Our Methodology

When evaluating the quality of long-term care offerings, we focus on the benefits that a carrier or plan can provide to older adults. We specifically look at pricing, coverage, optional offerings, and long-term value, particularly in comparison to plans from other carriers. Ultimately, an LTC insurance policy should help reduce financial stress if and when you require help with activities of daily living (ADLs). If a plan can offer ample coverage without breaking the bank, we believe it is a worthwhile option to consider.