LIMRA: LTC insurance sales tumble

A fourth-quarter tumble in long term care insurance sales brought down full- year 2008 results for the product, according to data from LIMRA International Inc. Full-year 2008 sales of LTC insurance were slightly more than $600 million, a decrease of 7%, from 2007’s total of $650 million in new annualized premiums. Premiums fell by 23% in the fourth quarter. The number of new individual LTC insurance purchasers was about 277,000, down 9% from 2007, and about 4.8 million individual policies were in-force at the end of last year, up 2% from 2007. Windsor, Conn.-based LIMRA cited the economic downturn as a major reason behind the slump in sales, which were finally looking up in 2007 after four consecutive years of declining numbers of insured people and plummeting premium dollars. That year produced a 3% gain in premiums. “Historically, individual products have emerged relatively unscathed from the effects of a recession,” Karen Fisherkeller, LIMRA’s associate analyst for group and LTC product research, said in a statement. “This time, however, all individual product lines have taken a hit, and [LTC insurance] appears particularly vulnerable.”