Bankers Life Long-Term Care Insurance: Products, Rate History & What Policyholders Need to Know in 2026

Most household names in long-term care insurance — Genworth, John Hancock, Transamerica, MetLife, Prudential, MassMutual, Aetna — have exited the new-sales market. Bankers Life and Casualty Company remains one of the few traditional LTC insurers still actively writing new individual policies. If you've received a quote from a Bankers Life agent, or you already hold a Bankers Life LTC policy and have received a rate increase notice, here is an independent review of what you need to know.

Who is Bankers Life and Casualty Company?

Bankers Life and Casualty Company was founded in 1879 and is today owned by CNO Financial Group, one of the largest middle-market life and health insurance holding companies in the United States. CNO's other subsidiaries include Washington National Insurance and Optum Financial Services (not the same as UnitedHealth Group's Optum).

Bankers Life concentrates its distribution on seniors aged 55–80 with moderate incomes and assets, typically reached through in-home appointments with a captive agent. The company is one of the largest individual sellers of Medicare Supplement insurance, annuities, and long-term care insurance to this demographic. Unlike independent broker-distributed carriers such as Mutual of Omaha or National Guardian Life (NGL), a Bankers Life agent represents only Bankers Life products — they cannot offer a competitor's policy even if it fits the client better.

CNO Financial Group's insurance subsidiaries carry an A (Excellent) AM Best financial strength rating as of CNO's published financial ratings disclosures.¹ This is a meaningful improvement over the company's B++ rating in earlier periods, reflecting better capital management and reserve adequacy under current management. Verify the current rating directly at AMBest.com before making any purchase decision, as ratings can change.

Bankers Life LTC insurance products: SimpleChoice

Bankers Life offers its long-term care insurance under the SimpleChoice product family. The name reflects the company's design philosophy: simpler benefit structures aimed at buyers who may be overwhelmed by the complexity of policies with fractional inflation riders, multi-tier benefit period configurations, or hybrid linked-benefit structures.

SimpleChoice Fundamental Plus

SimpleChoice Fundamental Plus is Bankers Life's primary current LTC offering. Key design parameters include:

• Monthly benefit for qualifying care in home care, assisted living, and nursing home settings
• Benefit period options: typically 2, 3, or 4 years
• Elimination period: typically 90 calendar days
• Inflation protection: compound inflation rider available; simpler option set than carriers like Mutual of Omaha Custom Solution
• Underwriting: health-underwritten; requires review of medical history and in some cases a phone interview or physical exam
• Available ages: generally 40–84 for initial purchase, subject to underwriting

The "Simple" in SimpleChoice is accurate. Compared to the full-design flexibility of Mutual of Omaha's Custom Solution — which offers fractional compound inflation increments (e.g., 3.25%, 4.75%) and a benefit buy-up feature to age 74 — Bankers Life's offering is more standardized. For buyers who find LTC insurance complexity paralyzing, that simplicity has genuine value. For buyers who want to optimize the benefit-to-premium ratio precisely, it is a limitation.

Rate stability and increase history

The fundamental concern about any traditional LTC insurance carrier is whether premiums will rise after purchase. The history of the industry — Genworth's $31.8B cumulative approved increases, John Hancock's multiple rounds averaging 30–40%, Transamerica's 70% filings — has made rate stability central to any traditional LTC evaluation.

Bankers Life has a documented rate increase history on legacy policy blocks. California Department of Insurance filings show multiple rounds of approved increases on older Bankers Life policy forms, with increase requests of 15–35% at various points from 2009 through the mid-2010s.² This is a lower magnitude than the worst exits, but it is not zero — and no traditional carrier can contractually guarantee premium stability.

Two structural differences are relevant when comparing Bankers Life's rate history to exited carriers:

1. Bankers Life is still writing new business. Carriers that have exited new sales (Genworth, John Hancock, Transamerica) are managing closed blocks of in-force policies with no new premium income. New premium revenue provides an actuarial offset that closed-block carriers cannot achieve. Bankers Life's ongoing new business provides that offset.
2. The SimpleChoice product line reflects lessons learned. Bankers Life's current products are designed with more conservative pricing assumptions than the legacy policies that generated the rate-increase crisis. That said, every LTC insurer has said this about its current generation of products — time and future claims experience will determine whether it holds.

Who should consider Bankers Life LTC insurance

Bankers Life can be a reasonable carrier choice under a narrow set of conditions:

• You're in the middle-income range with assets of $300K–$1.5M. Below $300K, Medicaid pre-planning likely deserves priority; above $1.5M, self-funding or a hybrid product may offer better value. Bankers Life's SimpleChoice products are designed for the middle tier.
• You were contacted by a Bankers Life agent and want to evaluate the quote. The agent can only show you Bankers Life options. If the premium fits your budget, the product design fits your planning needs, and you've benchmarked it against one or two other carriers (Mutual of Omaha, NGL), Bankers Life may be appropriate. If you haven't benchmarked it, you don't have enough information to decide.
• You want simplicity over customization. The SimpleChoice structure is less complex than Mutual of Omaha's Custom Solution or NGL's EssentialLTC. For buyers who want to get reasonable protection in place without fine-tuning fractional inflation increments, that simplicity is a feature.
• You're between 55 and 70 in good to standard health. Decline rates rise sharply with age: AALTCI data shows approximately 12% decline at 50–54 rising to 47% at 70–74. Bankers Life underwrites to similar standards. Earlier purchase means better insurability and lower premiums.

Bankers Life is less well-suited if:

• You want to compare it against hybrid products, self-fund analysis, or other traditional carriers simultaneously. A captive agent cannot do this; you'll need an independent advisor or broker.
• You prioritize AM Best ratings. Mutual of Omaha (A+) and New York Life/Thrivent (A++) carry higher ratings than CNO's subsidiaries (A).
• You're a couple seeking shared care riders. While available, confirm specific rider availability for your state and product form — the SimpleChoice line is more limited in rider selection than some competitors.

Bankers Life's distribution model: what it means for you

Bankers Life's roughly 5,000 captive agents are dedicated to selling CNO products only. The in-home appointment model — where an agent comes to you, often after a response to a direct mail piece or a community event — is an effective distribution strategy for reaching seniors who may not seek out an insurance broker independently. It is not designed to generate the kind of comparative analysis a fee-only financial advisor would provide.

Key things to understand before a Bankers Life agent appointment:

1. The agent earns a commission on sale. Traditional LTC insurance commissions are typically 50–80% of the first year's premium, declining in later years. The agent's financial interest is in completing a sale, not in telling you to self-fund or wait.
2. The agent cannot quote competitor policies. If a Mutual of Omaha policy offers the same benefit pool at 15% lower premium, the agent has no way to show you that — and no financial incentive to mention it.
3. The agent cannot model self-fund alternatives. For households with $1.5M+ in liquid assets, self-funding may produce better outcomes than any traditional LTC insurance product. A Bankers Life agent's product lineup does not include self-fund analysis.

This is not unique to Bankers Life — any carrier-specific captive agent has the same structural limitations. The difference is that independent LTC insurance brokers at least have access to multiple carriers. A fee-only financial advisor who specializes in LTC planning is not selling any product at all — they model all three options (traditional insurance, hybrid, self-fund) and get paid for advice, not commission.

If you already have a Bankers Life LTC policy

If you purchased a Bankers Life LTC policy in the 1990s or 2000s and have received a rate increase notice, your situation is similar to what Genworth, John Hancock, and Transamerica policyholders face. The same four options apply:

1. Pay the increased premium. If the coverage still fits your planning need and the premium is affordable, maintaining the policy in full may be the right choice — particularly if you're now in your 70s or 80s and would be declined for a replacement policy.
2. Reduce benefits to offset the increase. Most policies allow you to reduce the benefit period, daily benefit, or inflation rider in exchange for a lower premium. Reducing coverage locks in fewer benefits but keeps the policy in force. This is often the best path for policyholders who can no longer afford the full premium.
3. Exercise non-forfeiture options. If cumulative premium increases have crossed a threshold defined by NAIC model regulation §24, you may be entitled to convert to reduced paid-up or shortened benefit period coverage without paying further premiums. Check your policy documents and your state insurance department for whether contingent non-forfeiture applies to your policy form.
4. Lapse the policy. If you have substantial assets ($2M+), are in your mid-to-late 70s, and the premium has become disproportionate to the coverage remaining, lapsing and redirecting premiums to a self-fund reserve may make financial sense. This is a significant decision and warrants a full analysis — not a choice made in response to a rate notice alone.

One option that typically doesn't apply to existing Bankers Life policyholders: a 1035 exchange into a hybrid product. Traditional LTC insurance policies cannot be 1035-exchanged — only life insurance and annuities can be exchanged into hybrid LTC products under IRC §1035 and the Pension Protection Act. If someone is offering you a "1035 exchange" of your existing traditional LTC policy, verify the mechanics carefully before proceeding.

See the complete framework: LTC Insurance Premium Increase: Your 4 Options.

Bankers Life vs. other active LTC carriers: what to compare

If you're evaluating Bankers Life alongside other options, here are the dimensions that matter for a direct comparison:

For a broader comparison of all active traditional carriers, see: Best Long-Term Care Insurance Companies 2026.

How a fee-only advisor evaluates a Bankers Life policy

When a fee-only advisor evaluates whether a Bankers Life policy is appropriate for a client, the process involves three things a captive agent cannot do:

1. Modeling self-fund vs. insure. At what asset level does paying Bankers Life premiums outperform keeping that money invested in a dedicated reserve? The answer depends on your assets, risk tolerance, investment return assumptions, and care probability — not on which carrier is presenting. A fee-only advisor runs this math before recommending any product.
2. Comparing across carriers. If traditional LTC insurance is the right choice, is Bankers Life offering the best premium-to-benefit ratio for your age, gender, health class, and benefit design? Mutual of Omaha's Custom Solution, for example, offers more precise inflation rider customization that can materially affect long-term value. A fee-only advisor can request quotes from multiple carriers simultaneously.
3. Evaluating hybrid alternatives. Would a hybrid life+LTC product (Nationwide CareMatters II, Lincoln MoneyGuard, OneAmerica Asset-Care) serve better? For clients with existing life insurance or annuity cash value, a 1035 exchange into a hybrid product may eliminate new premium outlay entirely. A Bankers Life captive agent cannot show you this.

If you are facing a Bankers Life quote or a Bankers Life rate increase, getting an independent second opinion from a fee-only financial advisor before signing or making changes is worth the effort. LTC decisions are typically irreversible once made — switching carriers requires re-underwriting at your current health, which may not be possible if your health has changed since the original purchase.

Key questions to ask before signing a Bankers Life application

1. What is the benefit trigger — 2 of 6 ADLs per IRC §7702B, or cognitive impairment? (Must be one or both for a policy to qualify for the HIPAA tax advantages.)
2. Is the elimination period calendar-day or service-day? (Service-day policies on home care benefits can stretch a 90-day EP to 7+ months for part-time care. Learn more here.)
3. Does this policy qualify for Partnership LTC asset protection in my state?
4. What is the inflation rider type and rate? How does the benefit grow over 15 and 20 years at the assumed care cost inflation rate?
5. Has Bankers Life filed for rate increases on this specific policy form in my state in the past 10 years? (Ask the agent; also check your state insurance department's rate history database.)
6. Can I see a competing quote from Mutual of Omaha or NGL with identical benefit design before I decide?