Updated: January 30, 2023
New York Life is the largest mutual insurance company in the U.S., offering long-term care insurance, life insurance, investment and retirement income options, and employee benefits packages. The company is not publicly traded and caters to customers as shareholders who receive an annual dividend payment and voting rights to approve the board of directors. New York Life will issue the largest-ever total dividend to policyholders of $1.8 billion in 2019. The company has been paying dividends to customers for 165 years.
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In addition to its investment accounts and other insurance policies, New York Life offers multiple long-term care insurance policies. Whether you need coverage for assisted living or home health, New York Life offers customizable plans based on your specific situation.
We chose New York Life as one of the best long-term insurance companies due to the level of service the company provides. Highly-trained insurance professionals meet with consumers to determine the best long-term care insurance for each person and answer questions on the spot. The advantage of this no-obligation meeting over choosing insurance online is walking out of your local New York Life office confident you’ve made the best long-term care insurance decision after balancing coverage, service and cost.
New York Life started a 173-year history when it opened for business in 1845, before the Civil War. Along the way, New York Life broke ground in the insurance industry by offering women the same rates as men in 1894, when most insurance companies did not cover women at all. In 1923, the company’s assets rose over $1 billion, an unheard of amount for that era.
In the following years, New York Life added annuities for retirement and pension funds and other investment products. The twenty-first century saw New York Life become America’s largest mutual life insurance company. It successfully weathered the 2008 financial crisis due to its unique long-term financial planning compared to most publicly-traded insurance companies’ short-term approach to profits.
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The New York Life Foundation was established in 1979 to make grants to nonprofit organizations, and the company continued its ongoing philanthropic giving by supporting AIDS research and awareness in the 1980s, financial assistance for the 9/11 terrorist attack and support to the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture.
New York Life offers solid options for long-term care insurance, and the senior consumer advocate organization AARP provides New York Life insurance to members at a special group rate. We’ve listed a sampling of policies below, and you can talk to a New York Life representative to find out which plans are available in your state. New York Life also sells affiliate insurance products, so if you prefer policyholder benefits like the shared dividends, verify you’re buying a NYL policy to qualify.
Policy Characteristics | Bronze | Silver | Gold | Platinum |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lifetime maximum benefit | $50,000 | $100,000 | $175,000 | $250,000 |
Monthly benefit maximum | $1,500 | $3,000 | $5,000 | $7,000 |
One-time deductible | $4,500 | $9,000 | $15,000 | $21,000 |
Monthly Premium: Married male, age 55 | $24.93 | $49.86 | $84.65 | $119.45 |
New York Life’s website provides straightforward information about long-term care insurance and the policies the company offers. Because long-term care insurance products are often fine-tuned to meet individual needs, you will meet with a New York Life trained and licensed agent to discuss your plans, concerns and requirements. Use the online form on the website to provide your contact information, and a local New York Life insurance professional will quickly get in touch to schedule an appointment. You can also call the number on the website, or call the local New York Life office.
The Better Business Bureau gives New York Life headquarters an “A+”, and we saw a smattering of top ratings for local offices on the BBB website. ConsumersAdvocate.org gives New York Life Long-Term Care Insurance 9 out of 10 stars, with a 9-star rating on everything from claims and benefits to reputation.
Even though ConsumersAdvocate only awarded New York Life 9 stars for financial stability, the company could not score any higher on Moody’s, AM Best, Fitch and Standard & Poor’s ratings. New York Life received “AA+”, “AAA” and “A++” financial strength ratings in the mix. Readers of ConsumerAffairs’ website rate New York Life mostly 4 or 5 out of 5 stars, with a cumulative 3.5 stars. In a joint project with respected global research firm Statistica, Newsweek named New York Life to its America’s Best Customer Service list, with an 8.1 out of 10 score.
Source: New York Life
Some long-term care insurance from New York Life includes a loan option which allows you access to the cash value of your policy while continuing coverage. These policies include a death benefit, which is reduced until you pay the loan in full. These loans are not interest-free, but having the option for quick access to additional funds can be reassuring.
Riders add specific benefits or conditions to your LTC insurance policy. If cancer runs in your family, you might consider adding a Chronic Care rider to your long-term care policy if you feel the coverage could be inadequate. A reimbursement rider ensures payment of all expenses up to the monthly plan maximum, regardless of IRS rules. Riders come with a cost for the coverage but are sometimes necessary to get the right mix of benefits.
New York Life agents are trained to educate the customer about options for long-term care and other insurance. You make your decisions with the representative’s assistance, or you can decide not to buy a policy from New York Life and walk away since these meetings carry no obligation. Over 2,500 New York Life agents make up around 30 percent of all members of the prestigious Million Dollar Round Table, in part due to the level of ethics the agents practice in business.
Married applicants automatically receive a 15 percent discount on policies.
New York Life is making strides in secure digital records sharing and recently partnered with Epic, a leading electronic health records system company. Give New York Life consent to access digital records, and you will have your long-term care coverage in a matter of days.
New York Life long-term care insurance combines intelligent management for the long haul, commitment to customers who are owners with the assurance of long-standing top financial strength ratings. The long-term care insurance New York Life offers is flexible, so you can find affordable solutions to manage the cost of medical care as you age.