Dan Daddieco and Sheri Craig have paid into their long-term care insurance policy for more than 25 years, expecting it to cover them if they ever needed help bathing, dressing, or managing daily life in old age. Now in their 70s and living in Westford, Massachusetts, with no children to lean on, the couple is staring down a premium increase that could cost them more than $17,000 a year just to keep the coverage they've spent decades paying for.
The hike traces back to Brighthouse Life Insurance Company, which notified the couple that their premiums would rise by 118.2%, according to NBC Boston. Daddieco's annual premium is set to climb from about $4,300 to roughly $9,500 by 2028, the outlet reported, with the increase phased in over three years after Massachusetts regulators negotiated it down from Brighthouse's initial ask of a 315% hike. The company had argued the policies were costing far more than expected, projecting that future benefit payouts would exceed the premiums it had collected.
“I would not have bought it if I knew this was going to happen,” Daddieco said, according to the same report. Craig put it more starkly, saying their planned safety net was gone. The couple had viewed the coverage as a critical piece of their retirement plan, and they are now weighing a paid-up benefit option that would let them stop paying premiums entirely in exchange for reduced future coverage roughly equal to what they've already paid in.
Why Older Policies Are Suddenly So Costly
Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, said premium spikes like this one commonly hit older, legacy long-term care policies bought 10, 15, or 20 years ago, per NBC Boston's reporting. Low interest rates have squeezed insurers' returns on the reserves backing those older policies, and Brighthouse's plans reportedly now pay out more in benefits than insurers anticipated when many of the policies were sold decades ago. Slome recommended that policyholders carefully review the alternatives insurers offer rather than simply accepting the full increase, noting that people do have other choices besides paying the higher premium.
That tracks with national data: research from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners found that when legacy long-term care policies undergo major rate increases, between 50% and 60% of policyholders choose to pay the higher premium, 20% to 30% accept reduced benefits, and 10% to 20% select a contingent nonforfeiture or paid-up benefit. The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance has found that original stand-alone policies purchased in the 1990s and early 2000s have seen average cumulative premium increases of roughly 112% over 25 years, reflecting how badly early insurers misjudged lapse rates and interest trends.
Brighthouse's rate request affects approximately 1,600 Massachusetts policyholders, and the company may seek further increases down the road; regulators require it to return with updated information before doing so, per NBC Boston. The Massachusetts Division of Insurance said its actuarial review considered future claims costs, mortality, lapse rates, investment returns, and expenses, and it acknowledged that steep premium increases can create real financial hardship for retirees living on fixed incomes. The division recommends that consumers explore benefit-reduction options, contact their insurers directly, and seek help from local councils on aging or AARP.
The High Cost of Going It Alone
Only a small fraction of Massachusetts residents hold private long-term care insurance at all, which leaves most families exposed to costs that have become almost unmanageable without it. A private nursing home room in Massachusetts carried a median annual cost of $189,800 in 2025, making it the sixth most expensive state in the nation for that care, according to CareScout's national Cost of Care survey reported by Business Wire. Even staying at home isn't cheap: non-medical home care in the state reached a median annual cost of $91,520 last year, or $40 an hour for 44 hours a week, ranking 10th highest nationally.
New long-term care policies typically price in a 5% compound inflation factor that puts coverage beyond the means of almost everyone, and insurers no longer offer the lifetime benefits that made older policies attractive in the first place. Massachusetts residents who can't afford private care or coverage are often left relying on unpaid caregivers or spending down their assets to qualify for long-term services and supports through MassHealth.
To qualify for MassHealth long-term care benefits, applicants must spend down their countable assets to $2,000 or less, subject to a five-year look-back period on asset transfers, according to the Hope Law Firm. That threshold pushes much of the financial burden onto the state: MassHealth already funds care for seven out of every ten nursing facility residents in Massachusetts, with total state MassHealth spending reaching $22.1 billion in the fiscal year 2026 budget, per the Massachusetts Legislature.
Beacon Hill Weighs a Public Alternative
State Rep. Thomas Stanley has filed legislation to establish a special commission to study a statewide long-term services and supports benefit program, arguing that few Massachusetts residents can actually afford long-term care costs and that many will eventually need help with basic tasks like bathing, dressing, meal preparation, and medication management. State officials confirmed implementation details on Thursday for House Bill 4706, the newly signed legislation Stanley sponsored alongside Sen. Patricia Jehlen, who supports his push for the commission, according to the Franklin Observer.
The commission would commission a state-funded actuarial study projecting the costs of various public, private, and hybrid long-term care financing models using Massachusetts demographic data, exploring ways to expand affordable private insurance options while identifying sustainable solutions for middle-class residents. One model already exists elsewhere: Washington state's WA Cares Fund, the nation's first mandatory public long-term care insurance program, is funded by a 0.58% payroll tax and began providing eligible workers up to $36,500 in lifetime care benefits in July 2026, according to the University of Washington.
Whether Massachusetts follows that model or pursues hybrid public-private incentives remains an open question the commission is meant to answer. In the meantime, insurers like Brighthouse — whose credit outlook was revised to negative by AM Best in January 2025 over headwinds in its legacy business lines — may work with individual consumers to tailor revised plans to their budgets, but for couples like Daddieco and Craig, the choices left on the table are all smaller than the safety net they thought they had secured.
