It's now been a couple of years since LTC carriers have introduced sex-distinct rates in LTC Insurance. What's been the impact?

First a reminder of why gender based pricing was introduced. According to Genworth 2013 claim information, about 66% of claims are filed by females. Another way of looking at it was that in 2011, according to the AALTCI, only 1/3 of the $6.6 billion in claims was paid out to men. These claims trends have been evident for many years, and as carrier received more and more single female business they became justifiable concerned.

The answer was gender specific rates. Just as life insurance uses gender for pricing since men don't live as long (thus have higher premiums), carrier actuaries priced woman applicants for LTC insurance higher, while lowering rates from men.

Of course, once one carrier started the trend others had to follow lest they attract a heavy proportion of single female business. The impact - fewer single female applications and more couples applications. On the other hand, the reduction in premium for single men has probably not attracted new business because they have always been a small percentage of LTC purchasers.

Now, most of the major carriers offer sex distinct pricing with one notable exception - employer based programs.

Employer programs are subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bans discrimination by sex for employer benefit programs. Because of this LTC premiums for men and woman employees are the same. For single females considering LTC Insurance, they may want to check if their employer offers a program first.