For most of recent history, American women have been living longer than men – and now it’s going to cost them more. As the Wall Street Journal’s Kelly Greene reports, the insurance industry, which up until now has charged men and women the same prices for long-term care coverage, is beginning to factor women’s longevity into their underwriting. Genworth Financial, the industry’s biggest player, says it will soon begin charging women as much as 40% more than men for the same coverage, and other insurers are expected to follow suit.
KvetaTighter rules in the long-term care world were probably inevitable – insurance companies have found that paying for elder care was more expensive than they anticipated, and some have gotten out of the business altogether. And women currently account for two out of every three “benefit dollars” spent by long-term care insurers, according to a trade group. Genworth says that under its new underwriting standards, rates for single women will go up by about 10% from present rates; married women who buy coverage with their male spouses will see smaller increases thanks to their husbands’ lower longevity risk. The irony, of course, is that by living longer, women already shoulder the costs of elder care in other ways. As a Genworth executive tells Greene, “When a man’s health declines, ‘a lot of times a woman is in the home and can provide some care,’ lowering costs overall.”
