OneAmerica Long-Term Care Insurance Review

Long-term care insurance is a type of coverage that promises to pay the cost for health or personal care you may need if you can’t perform basic day-to-day activities – including that provided in a nursing home.

Some insurance providers offer long-term care options as standalone policies, while others bundle it with annuities or life insurance. OneAmerica is among the latter group. Here’s a rundown of the company's pros, cons, offerings and financial stability to help you decide if it’s right for you.

Best offering: annuity-based long-term care plans

OneAmerica originated in 1877, when Knights of Pythia, a non-sectarian fraternal order, started the company in order to launch a life insurance program. Today, OneAmerica’s products roll together long-term care with life insurance or an annuity. For example, one of its flagship products allows you to invest in a fixed annuity and use that value to cover the first years of long-term care coverage.

There are both pros and cons to annuities as a source of retirement income, and views are similarly mixed on so-called hybrid long-term care policies that combine life insurance and long-term care insurance. However, if you’ve concluded that such a 2-in-1 product may make sense for you, this review will help you understand OneAmerica’s offerings and how they stack up against those of competing providers.

OneAmerica Long-term care insurance pros and cons

Pros explained

Multiple ways to make claims

Not every insurer offers as many ways to submit claims as OneAmerica. You can call toll-free or opt to send the claim by email or fax.

You can also make claims online through the OneAmerica website.The process of filing a claim online includes four steps:

• Fill out the long-term care claim form
• Get your attending physician’s statement
• Fill out a direct deposit form (optional)
• Submit the claims forms

Once you submit your online claims form, the company says, a representative will review the forms and contact your legal representative.

In order to submit a claim, OneAmerica says, long-term care services must have already begun. In addition, your policy number must be on the long-term care claim form and the attending physician’s statement, and you must sign and date the fourth page of the long-term care claim form.

A benefit given, even if long term care is not required

Two-in-one policies such as One America’s came about in part because some would-be long-term insurance buyers balked at buying pricey policies that delivered no benefit if the person covered by the policy never required care.

The combined life-and-long-term-care policies of OneAmerica, like other carriers who sell these, include an investment component that can grow over time. any accumulated value of the policy that you didn’t use for long-term care is passed on to your beneficiaries at the time of your death.

Tax benefits over a simple long term care policy

Purchasing an asset-based long-term care option, like those OneAmerica sells, presents tax advantages over simply buying long-term care insurance. That’s because the growth in value of the policy’s investment component or annuity (depending on the policy type you choose) over time will not be subject to tax, provided you use the gains to cover long-term care expenses. And if you don’t spend all of those funds on your care, the unused funding simply gets passed along on to beneficiaries.

Cons explained

Annuities are not suitable for all

Despite the tax advantages noted above, as well as its provision of a guaranteed steady stream of income, the annuity component of long-term care insurance policies like OneAmerica’s have drawbacks. Among them is the loss of liquidity for a portion of your portfolio. And if you liquidate investments now to buy the annuity when stocks are down, you risk locking in losses.

Hybrid policies like OneAmerica’s are pricey

You’ll likely pay a high price for the pluses of a policy that combines coverage for your life and any long-term care you need. Such hybrid policies are typically far more expensive than standalone long-term care insurance.

For example, we priced – for a healthy 62-year-old couple – the cost of hybrid and long-term care policies that would both, as needed, pay up to around $250,000 of any long-term care costs. Premiums for the hybrid policy were nearly triple those for the standalone one, for a difference of nearly $10,000 a year. True, the hybrid policy added a $160,000 death benefit, but a standalone life insurance policy could provide such a payout for less than that difference in premiums, especially if it were a term insurance policy.

Limited online information and functionality

If you're considering a long-term care policy from OneAmerica, you won’t be able to find any pricing information on its website. In order to get estimates for your policy, you’ll need to visit one of its branch locations or contact one of its financial professionals. By contrast, some sites from competitors include annuity and asset care calculators that will help you find an estimate, saving time and effort when deciding on which provider to choose.

Likewise, if you decide to purchase a policy through OneAmerica, you won't be able to do it online. You'll need to go to a branch location or speak with an agent via phone to get long-term care coverage. Some potential customers may find this inconvenient and choose to use a different provider that allows them to purchase the insurance directly through the website.

Not available in every state

OneAmerica's long-term care options are not available in every state. If you reside in Hawaii, Montana, New York or Vermont, you cannot purchase its policies.

Also, if you want to go into a physical branch location, you may find it inconvenient that the company has only 45 locations. That means even some states in which OneAmerica writes policies have no offices, and your drive could be long even in a state in which a location is present.

OneAmerica long-term care insurance plans

OneAmerica doesn’t have standalone long-term care insurance plans. Rather, its policies roll together long-term care coverage with that for life insurance or an annuity. Policies are provided through The State Life Insurance Company.

These plans offer multiple potential benefits, such as:

• Paying a single premium with an existing asset, like a CD or IRA
• Guaranteed minimum interest rate
• Tax exemptions on qualifying long-term care expenses

Life insurance with long-term care benefits

OneAmerica offers a hybrid life and long-term care insurance plan, through which your life insurance coverage forms a foundation to cover any long-term care needs. The plan’s potential benefits include the ability to purchase insurance for one or two people (rather than the single-person restriction for standalone life insurance) and the fact that the insurance premiums never increase.

Long-term care expenses allow you to receive care in your home, in an adult daycare facility or at a nursing or assisted living facility. Coverage can also include hospice care, respite care, supportive equipment and caregiver training.

Long-term care protection begins when you cannot perform two of the following daily activities:

• Bathing
• Eating
• Dressing
• Continence
• Transferring
• Toileting
• Typical cognitive function

Annuities with long-term care benefits

OneAmerica offers a long-term plan in which long-term care needs are covered, at least in part, through tapping an annuity – a contract that requires the insurance provider to pay out a set sum of money at a later date. The annuity, with its long-term care benefits, grows your investment in a CD, savings account or other vehicle. Like other annuities, OneAmerica's ome with a guarantee of a minimum interest rate of growth. Profits that accumulate can be tapped as needed to cover you should you need long-term care in the future.

OneAmerica long-term care insurance pricing

OneAmerica doesn’t list price information for its long-term care packages on its website. To get quotes on premiums and coverage, you’ll need to contact one of its financial professionals. OneAmerica provides a map with information on branch locations on its website. If you reside in a state that doesn’t have a branch you can call a representative at 877-999-9883 or email

OneAmerica long-term care insurance financial stability

OneAmerica has been in business for more than 140 years. AM Best rates the company as A- (Excellent), and notes its credit outlook appears to be stable. Similarly, S&P Global also gives OneAmerica a rating of A- and calls the company’s credit outlook stable. The State Life Insurance Company underwrites OneAmerica long-term care insurance plans.

OneAmerica long-term care insurance accessibility

Availability

OneAmerica’s long-term care insurance options are available in all states except Hawaii, Montana, New York and Vermont, as well as in Washington D.C. OneAmerica has 45 branches across the U.S., but even some states in which the company writes policies lack a physical location for in-person assistance.

Contact information

OneAmerica provides multiple phone numbers, depending on your reason for calling and the coverage you have. To find the most relevant phone number for your issue, you can answer some questions on the Contact Us page on its website. To speak with customer service about its asset-based long-term care policy, call 800-352-6608. OneAmerica doesn't list its customer service hours. You can also send an email to longtermcareclaims.ind@oneamerica.com.

User experience

The OneAmerica website provides useful information about its offerings as well as educational resources. If you need to make a claim, you can complete the entire process online, using an easy-to-follow order of events. However, if you want to get estimates of your premiums or purchase insurance, you'll need to speak to a representative at a local branch or via phone. OneAmerica also has a mobile app called OneAmerica Retirement, which assists you in managing your retirement account.

OneAmerica long-term care insurance customer satisfaction

Online customer reviews for OneAmerica are scant. The State Life Insurance Company, the company that underwrites OneAmerica's long-term care policies, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). The BBB has given The State Life Insurance Company a rating of A+, and it hasn’t received any customer complaints on the BBB site.

How we evaluated OneAmerica long-term care insurance

We looked at a number of aspects of OneAmerica's long-term care insurance in order to understand and assess the company’s offerings. Those include:

• Available plans: We investigated the company’s offerings and the coverage options included in each plan.

• Pricing and discounts: We looked into the cost of the different types of coverage and any discounts that can be applied.

• Application process: We checked the ease of applying for coverage and the possible ways to submit an application.

• Accessibility: We took into account where the plans are available and who can apply for them.

• User experience: We investigated how customers rated their experiences on online review sites.

• Third-party rankings: We considered how third-party experts rated the company.

• Customer service: We took into account the efficiency of the company’s customer service and the ways in which that service can be contacted.

Summary of Money’s OneAmerica long-term care insurance review

There are a few pros and some significant cons to packaging coverage in case you need long-term care with a life insurance policy or an annuity. But if you’ve concluded that one of these could work for you, there’s no major reason not to consider plans from OneAmerica. The company’s pluses include the ability to make claims online. Conversely, though, the company does not provide online quotes and its availability – and access to in-person assistance – has limitations.

If you would like to look into other options besides OneAmerica long-term care insurance, check out our picks for the best long-term care insurance.