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Long-Term Care Insurance by National Guardian (NGL)

National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL) is an American insurance company located in Madison, Wisconsin. It was formed in 1910 and is an independent mutual life insurance company licensed to do business in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

The Long-Term Care Insurance Policy Series; EssentialLTC, was launched mid-July, 2016, and is currently available in all but a handful of states. NGL has been active and successful in product implementation as well as developing partnership agreements with each state.

National Guardian Life EssentialLTC

National Guardian Life EssentialLTC offers some unique benefits seen only partially in few long-term care insurance policies. The most compelling of these are the lifetime benefit rider, the shared plan design, the 10-pay and single pay options for payment and what NGL calls the “reverse combo;” a return of premium rider that can leverage your long-term care plan to compare to an LTC Combo Hybrid.

Many insurance companies mitigate their risks by limiting coverage to five or six years of care. EssentialLTC offers lifetime benefits with an unlimited number of years of care and an unlimited dollar amount of total LTC benefits.

Joint pricing is based upon female gender and oldest applicant age. This is true for any gender combination insured. Above table based upon equal age applicants.

NGL EssentialLTC’s benefit structure speaks to joint applicants. Built into the plan is the waiver of premium (facility only) when in a qualified care episode, and in a joint plan, this means waiver of premium for both. It is recommended that in order to address the home and community care waiting period, that the rider for “waiver of premium for home and community care services” is a “must have” in any EssentialLTC policy as the built-in premium waiver is applicable only to facility-based services.

With the premium pricing built upon a ratio focusing on highest age insured and female gender as the entirety of premium for both, when selecting a joint plan, premium rates are consistently lower than competitors. The plan offers less premium pricing benefit when large gaps in insurance age exist. Singles applying will see competitive premiums when applying up into the early 70s. With no discount in place for those with partners applying singularly, competitors offering this discount generally offer more affordability in pricing for these applicants.

The Shared Benefit Rider:

Addressing the plan’s focus on insuring health couples, the shared benefit rider doubles one base pool of benefits to be used for sharing by insured partners. In example; a 3-year plan equals three (3) years for Partner 1, three (3) years for Partner 2 and three (3) years to share. The shared plan builds are available in 2-6 years (6 plan years – 18 plan years) with the “third shared pool” amount equaling the plan pool base amount, Important to note; there is no sharing of the plan base years for either partner and the passing of one partner does not impact/reduce policy premium pricing for remaining partner nor does it result in transfer of partner’s remaining base pool to surviving partner.

The elimination (waiting) periods available with this plan are 0, 30, 90 and 180 days. The waiver of elimination period for Home Health Care is an available rider option and worthy of noting; selecting this option is identically priced to selecting an elimination period of 30 days.

Other benefits: EMR response, caregiver training, care coordination, respite care benefits, bed reservation, and shortened benefit period rider to protect lapse of payment.

Daily benefit options are based upon $50-$300 per day, available in $10 increments.

International coverage is available at thirty (30) calendar days per year.

Coverage is available for ages 40-79 and NGL has plan provisions for members of the same household (e.g. sister, sister/mother, daughter) to apply jointly; another feature not seen in most plans.

Discounts:

Policy discounts are factored in calculations for joint applicants, however; no discount for partnership status is present for those with partners applying singularly. The pricing structure often remains competitive with the exception of males with partners seeking singular coverage.

NGL Financial Ratings:

AM Best “A-“ (Excellent)

NGL Customer Service:

The Better Business Bureau rates National Guardian Life Insurance company an “A-“ and there are no consumer reviews at 12/29/2019.

Retirement Living gives NGL Essential LTC a 4.5 out of 5 star rating, with Options rated 4.5, Availability 4.2, Policy Features 5 and Customer Service 4.2

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