According to a recent article published by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), more and more Americans are reconsidering the benefits of purchasing long-term care insurance, similar to the long-term disability policies sold by Unum Life Insurance and other insurance companies.

Long-term insurance coverage can help pay for some or all of an individual’s cost for nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, and home health care, should this person become unable to care for themselves. However, these policies popularly issued by Unum and other companies for decades have recently come under fire, especially because of the ever increasing policyholder premiums. Additionally, not many insurers sell these types of long-term care policies anymore, and many Americans are starting to question if they are even necessary.

According to experts interviewed by WSJ, over two-thirds of people 65 years of age or older will require some form of long-term care. A recent study performed by Genworth Financial, the leading seller of long-term care policies, estimated that the median annual cost to keep someone in a private room in a nursing home runs at about $91,250. Additionally, 24/7 home care can cost over $170,000 a year for an individual.

Because of the rise of prices and decrease in benefits for these long-term care policies, the sale of long-term care policies has declined, and many insurers like Unum no longer offer or market long-term care policies. For those policyholders with existing long-term care policies, many are unhappy with the increased premiums, because they bought these policies under the assumption that their premium charges would stay at about the same rate for years to come.

The WSJ reports that a typical basic long-term care policy provides $164,000 of potential proceeds to cover the cost of nursing or home care. Additionally, a 60-year-old couple who both purchase long-term care policies should expect to pay a combined cost of $1,685 to $2,813 in insurance policy premiums. While these premiums are expensive, they generally provide sufficient coverage should a couple need long-term care assistance. However, should an insurer decide to deny an insurance claim, policyholders may be looking at having paid thousands of dollars in premiums with no benefits to show for their efforts.

Unum Long-Term Care and Long-Term Disability Policies

Unum is one of the largest insurers in the country, offering various types of short-term and long-term insurance, including their infamous long-term disability insurances—infamous because Unum has reportedly made a habit of denying disability insurance claims despite evidence of complete disability by a policyholder.

As previously stated, Unum used to also sell long-term care insurance. However, according to Unum’s website:

“Unum no longer markets the sale of new group or individual policies for long term care (LTC) insurance. But if you have Unum LTC coverage, rest assured: We are committed to all current policyholders — now and in the future — with the same benefits, services and support for a period of long term care.”

Because of Unum’s history of bad faith insurance practices—where the company allegedly denies qualifying and legitimate insurance claims to avoid paying for the benefits due to a policyholder—it is possible that those individuals who bought Unum long-term care policies in the past may be wrongfully denied in the future when they need the policy to cover the prohibitive cost of nursing or home care.

If you believe you have had a wrongfully denied insurance claim, you should consider speaking with an insurance benefits denial lawyer to see if you can file an Unum lawsuit.