Genworth sold more individual long-term care insurance than any other company during the product’s growth years, which is why its name shows up on so many kitchen-table policy folders today. It is also why so many people search for it: not to buy, but because a letter arrived announcing a premium increase and a list of choices that reads like an actuarial exam.
This guide covers what Genworth actually sells in 2026, what the rate-increase program has done and is still doing, what each option on the letter means in plain terms, and where the litigation stands. All figures below are drawn from Genworth’s own filings and pages as of September 2026.
Does Genworth Still Sell Long-Term Care Insurance?
Not through the companies that issued the older policies. Genworth’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 says plainly that its legacy insurance subsidiaries “no longer offer or sell long-term care insurance, life insurance or annuity products,” although they continue to service in-force blocks and may still issue a limited number of certificates under existing group policies. Those legacy policies sit in what Genworth calls its Closed Block segment.
New coverage in the Genworth family is sold under a different brand and a different insurer. CareScout Care Assurance is a long-term care insurance policy issued by CareScout Insurance Company, sold through licensed agents rather than directly on the website, and availability is gated by state approval. Genworth reported that the worksite version of Care Assurance was approved in 34 states as of June 30, 2026 and was ready for a third-quarter launch.
So if you own a Genworth Life Insurance Company or Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York policy, you are a policyholder of a company that is no longer writing new business in that line. That is not unusual. Most of the carriers that dominated the market in the 1990s and 2000s have stopped selling. If you are shopping today rather than managing an old policy, start with what long-term care insurance costs now and whether it is worth buying.
The In-Force Rate Increase Program by the Numbers
Genworth calls this its multi-year in-force rate action plan. It files for increases state by state, on groups of policies that share a policy form and issue state, and reports the results every quarter.
| Metric (Closed Block LTC) | Q2 2026 | Q2 2025 | First half 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| State filings approved | 15 | 11 | 29 |
| In-force premium affected | $189 million | $114 million | $210 million |
| Weighted-average approved increase | 24% | 36% | 25% |
| Gross incremental premium approved | $46 million | $41 million | $51 million |
Source: Genworth’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. In the same six months, Genworth submitted 19 new filings covering roughly $99 million in annualized in-force premium, so the pipeline is not empty.
The cumulative figure is the one Genworth leads with in earnings materials. It estimates approximately $34.8 billion of economic benefit, on a net present value basis, from approved rate increases and benefit reductions between 2012 and the second quarter of 2026. That number is not a percentage increase on any single policy. It is the present value of extra premium plus the value of benefits policyholders gave up, across the whole block, over 14 years.
Two things follow from that. First, the average approved increase per filing round has come down (24% to 25% in 2026 versus 32% to 36% in 2025). Second, a single policy can absorb several rounds, which is why cumulative increases on an individual policy can be far larger than any one letter suggests. Genworth’s own explanation notes that in states where it receives less than it requested, it often files again later.
Why the Increases Happen
Genworth’s stated reasons match what regulators describe. Policies written in the 1990s and 2000s assumed that many more people would drop coverage than actually did, that claims would start later, and that invested reserves would earn more. The NAIC, updating its long-term care insurance topic page in July 2026, describes the same pattern: understated claim incidence and claim duration, and lapse rates far lower than assumed.
Long-term care policies are guaranteed renewable. The insurer cannot cancel your coverage or single you out because of your health, age or claims history, but it can raise premiums on an entire class of policies with regulator approval. Genworth says it must file actuarially justified requests with the insurance regulator in each state where the policies were sold, with the exception of Alaska, and that the amount and timing vary because each regulator applies different criteria.
Since 2022 there has been a coordination layer. The NAIC adopted a Long-Term Care Insurance Multistate Rate Review Framework meant to produce consistent, timely decisions across states and to eliminate cross-state rate subsidization, and its Long-Term Care Actuarial Working Group monitors how the framework is applied. This is a regulatory review process, not a settlement, and it does not give individual policyholders a claim to file.
What Each Option on the Letter Means
Genworth groups the choices into three buckets. Understanding them is the whole job when the letter arrives.
Keep your current coverage. Pay the higher premium, change nothing. No action required.
Adjust your coverage. This is the reduced benefit option, sometimes called the landing spot. Genworth lists five levers, which can be combined:
- Lower the daily or monthly maximum (its example: $300 per day down to $250).
- Shorten the benefit coverage period (its example: lifetime down to four years).
- Lengthen the elimination period (its example: 30 days to 100 days).
- Decrease inflation protection (its example: 5% down to 3%, or compound down to simple).
- Cancel riders such as First Day Home Care, Restoration of Benefits or Survivorship.
Genworth’s worked example is worth internalizing: a $230 daily benefit over a three-year (1,095-day) period produces a lifetime payment maximum of $251,850. Benefit period is a maximum-dollar calculation, not a calendar. If your actual covered expenses run below the daily maximum, the pool lasts longer than the stated years.
Pay nothing more. In most situations you receive a paid-up policy with benefits approximately equal to total premiums paid, adjusted for any claims already paid. Washington State’s insurance regulator describes the same mechanism under its regulatory name, the contingent non-forfeiture option: you keep coverage, stop paying, and benefits are generally equal to premiums paid minus claims paid.
One deadline matters. If you reduce benefits and change your mind, Genworth requires written notice within 60 days of its written confirmation of the reduction. After that, the original benefits cannot be restored.
If you are already on claim and have a waiver of premium feature, Genworth says you are not required to pay the increase while receiving benefits, but you become responsible for the higher premium if you recover and benefits stop.
Where the Litigation Stands
Genworth’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 lists three pending matters, and none of them is an open long-term care premium-disclosure class action. Burkhart, filed in Delaware Chancery Court in 2018, alleges that Genworth Life Insurance Company paid dividends to its parent and entered reinsurance transactions that left it undercapitalized; the court heard argument on summary judgment in January 2026 and the case continues. Trauernicht is an ERISA case about the company retirement plan. TVPX concerns life insurance cost-of-insurance charges, and the district court granted Genworth summary judgment on August 3, 2026.
The earlier long-term care disclosure settlements are still visible in the accounting rather than in an open claims window: the 10-Q references cash payments made to policyholders who elected certain reduced benefit options in connection with legal settlements. If you receive mail claiming a live Genworth long-term care settlement, verify it against a court or administrator record before responding.
Financial Strength Ratings
Genworth publishes its own ratings table. These were current as of September 2, 2026.
| Company | A.M. Best financial strength rating |
|---|---|
| Genworth Life Insurance Company | C++ |
| Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company | B- |
| Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York | C++ |
Genworth’s own note explains that B- and C++ are the eighth- and ninth-highest of 13 A.M. Best ratings, describing “fair” and “marginal” ability to meet ongoing insurance obligations. Separately, the consolidated risk-based capital ratio for the legacy insurance subsidiaries was approximately 286% as of June 30, 2026, down from 300% at year-end 2025, which Genworth attributed mainly to statutory losses and higher required capital on long-term care claims. State guaranty associations provide a backstop if a life or health insurer becomes insolvent, subject to state-specific limits.
The CareScout Cost of Care Survey
Genworth has run this survey since 2004, and it is now published under the CareScout brand. It is the reference point Genworth itself tells policyholders to use when deciding how much coverage to keep. The 2025 edition, released March 2, 2026, collected more than 25,000 rates from providers between July and November 2025.
| Care setting | 2025 national median | Year over year |
|---|---|---|
| Non-medical caregiver, in home | $35 per hour ($80,080 a year at 44 hours a week) | +3% |
| Adult day health care | $95 per day ($24,700 a year at 5 days a week) | -5% |
| Assisted living | $6,200 a month ($74,400 a year) | +5% |
| Nursing home, semi-private room | $315 per day ($114,975 a year) | +2% |
| Nursing home, private room | $355 per day ($129,575 a year) | +1% |
Compare those to your policy’s daily or monthly maximum before you agree to cut it. Our own guides to nursing home cost, assisted living cost, home health care cost and adult day care cost break the same settings down by region, and the fair price checker helps sanity-check a local quote.
Working Through Your Own Letter
Put the increase next to two numbers: the current median cost of the care you would most likely use, and the lifetime payment maximum your policy would provide after each proposed reduction. A benefit cut that still covers most of a local nursing home rate is a very different decision from one that leaves a large gap.
Then check the arithmetic on the paid-up option. Because it is roughly equal to premiums paid minus claims paid, it usually favors people who bought long ago and paid a lot, and it is weakest for people who bought recently. Genworth’s dedicated policyholder line for premium-increase questions is 866.419.0401, and every state insurance department will review a complaint about how an increase was implemented.
Two more things worth knowing. Premiums on a tax-qualified policy may be partly deductible; see whether long-term care insurance is tax deductible. And if you are weighing whether to keep the policy at all, the honest comparison is against the alternatives, which are paying privately, Medicaid, and the fact that Medicare does not cover long-term custodial care. Nothing here is a recommendation to keep, reduce or drop coverage; that decision depends on your own finances and is worth reviewing with a licensed adviser.