The waiver of premium feature has been part of long-term care insurance almost as long as the product has been available.

The concept is easy - once a client is claim eligible and receiving benefits they no longer need to pay premiums. Waiver of premium means no stress about future premiums while on claim, and if a rate increase occurs during claim time it will not affect the policyholder.

Of course, waiver of premium is not a free feature - it is built into the pricing of the contract. John Hancock with their Performance LTC product, does not offer a waiver of premium option, although their plan offers premium credits which has the potential to cover some of the premium payments even if you're not on claim.

We asked our associates at LTCI Partners about waiver of premium and if they thought is was worth the additional rider cost:

• "No. Like any other insurance, I am accustomed to continuing to pay premium even when receiving benefits. The benefits far exceed the premium. If my budget is limited (who’s isn’t), I would choose a higher benefit amount rather than pay for these features."
• "Yes, one less thing to worry about while on claim makes sense."
• "I would not pay extra for waiver of premium.  While I understand the need for long-term care insurance, there is still the chance I may never need to use the policy so if I can save some premium dollars today I would opt to do that."   
  
• "Yes, because once I am on claim I will not only be on a fixed income but I will also have a lot of care expenses which depending on the amount of coverage I applied for may or may not be enough to cover the entire cost of care. To not have the premium payment is one less bill I would need to worry about while actually on claim which would make the additional premium collected initially worth the cost."
  
• "I don’t think having waiver of premium is a deal breaker. I think consumers are pretty used to not getting a break on premium when they actually use their coverage. I would have loved to get a break on my car insurance when I dealt with a car accident a few years back – or get a break on my health insurance when I’m sick! But that certainly isn’t how it works!"
• "No. The little amount of premium in comparison to the benefits received each month makes it a non-issue."
  

What do you think? Leave your comments below!