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In January, just weeks into the legislative session, key lawmakers frustrated with soaring rate increases on long-term care insurance plans pledged urgent reform to bring relief to Connecticut’s struggling policyholders.

They followed up with 17 bills that cover a wide range of proposals, from placing caps on annual rate hikes to providing tax credits for consumers and requiring the state to hold public hearings when insurers seek price increases. Five legislative committees advanced measures with bipartisan support, some that included broad consumer protections and cost savings.

But with three weeks left in the regular session, proponents are still trying to figure out what — if any — changes may move forward this year. Some proposals, like tax credits and deductions, have been weighed down by hefty price tags. In other cases, a lack of consensus and political will have hampered efforts.

“Here we are, the insurance capital of the world, and we have long-term care insurance that’s so expensive, it’s not even worth having,” said Rep. Lucy Dathan, a Norwalk Democrat who is co-chair of the Government Oversight Committee, which passed a bill on the issue in March. “It feels like such an injustice. We need to figure this out.”

“We’ve been patient for years, and to not have something meaningful pass this session, I’m very concerned,” said Kenneth Kollmeyer, 75, whose annual insurance payments have climbed to $7,600 for his policy and his wife’s, more than double what they paid when they purchased the coverage in 2004. Their policies are set to increase again next year.

Nearly 100,000 people in Connecticut have long-term care insurance — coverage that, depending on the policy, supports skilled in-home care, rehabilitation therapy, assisted living, nursing home stays and respite care.

A Connecticut Mirror investigation found the annual cost of maintaining these policies has skyrocketed for many residents due to miscalculations by insurers on how long people would live, the price of care and how many would need it. Consumers face sizable rate increases, often exceeding 50% and, for a few dozen people, as high as 174%, according to a CT Mirror analysis.

A review of rate hikes from January 2019 to October 2024 shows more than 17,000 people with long-term care policies have gotten hit with increases of 50% or more. Some of the biggest companies in the market, including Genworth Financial, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Transamerica Life Insurance Company, requested hikes for five years in a row beginning in 2019.

When providers seek premium increases, thousands of consumers can be affected. In 2019, for example, Genworth Financial requested a 40% rate hike on more than 9,000 Connecticut policyholders. In 2021, Transamerica requested a 20% rate increase on 8,000 policies. The Insurance Department approved both requests with no changes.

In 2022, Genworth raised rates for more than 2,000 people by an average of 97%, with increases ranging from 79% to 173%, depending on the policy. The approved amounts were a slight reduction from the company’s original request.

New language and last-minute plans

Sen. Matthew Lesser, D-Middletown, this week introduced a revised bill that would require insurance companies’ cost-sharing responsibility to increase in relation to the cumulative rate hikes on long-term care coverage.

The state insurance commissioner would have to come up with a calculation for the new cost-sharing responsibility.

“We’re giving relief to people who have seen repeated increases from their insurance companies,” Lesser, co-chair of the Human Services Committee, said. “And we’re saying that, as you get hit more and more by your insurance company, we’re going to ask the company to eat more of the cost instead of passing it on to the policyholder.”

Sen. Jorge Cabrera, co-chair of the Insurance and Real Estate Committee, which also passed legislation in March, said he’s in the process of “grabbing different elements” of the bills that advanced to create one proposal with consensus. What that could look like is still in flux.

“I want to do something, because it’s a big issue that everyone’s dealing with, regardless of party,” he said.

Measures that would give policyholders a financial break in the form of a tax credit or tax deduction have hit a wall due to sizable costs. Estimates by the state’s Office of Fiscal Analysis put the price of one tax credit at $67.2 million and a tax deduction at $20.2 million.

Despite Connecticut being on pace to close this fiscal year with the second-largest surplus in state history, a nearly $2.4 billion windfall according to Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration, officials are wary of providing tax relief in the next budget.

Given ongoing congressional efforts to make unprecedented cuts in Medicaid, lawmakers fear Connecticut stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

But other components of the reform bills have far smaller cost estimates or no expense. Legislators proposed 10% caps on annual rate increases, public hearings so policyholders can share their perspectives when rate hike requests are filed, consumer notifications warning of the risk of large premium increases, and a sweeping review of the state’s regulation of long-term care insurance.

Other measures would tie annual rate hikes to the consumer price index, require insurers to certify that premium increases are necessary to prevent a material risk of insolvency, and bar carriers from entering into state contracts if they don’t comply with LTCI policy changes.

Several consumers and legislators testified in support of the bills, while insurance sector officials opposed them.

Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, said impending federal budget cuts will put huge economic pressure on Connecticut’s working families, but lawmakers haven’t abandoned efforts to provide relief to long-term care policyholders.

“We don’t have huge amounts of money, but it’s a real problem for people who bought those policies,” he said, adding that “everything is tentative right now.”

Rate hike requests persist

As consumers are squeezed, grievances filed with the Connecticut Insurance Department have mounted. The office received more than 700 complaints in the last six years about long-term care insurance, mostly rising premiums.

Solutions have been elusive. Legislators introduced more than 50 bills from 2019 to 2024, with only a small number passing and offering limited relief. They blamed budget constraints and pushback from insurers, among other problems.

Shortly after the CT Mirror’s investigation published in January, the state Insurance Department rejected a proposed rate increase of 167% by Brighthouse Insurance Company covering about 5,100 people in Connecticut.

But more rate hike requests have been filed. In a recent filing, the State Life Insurance Company, which represents a small group of about 22 policyholders, is asking for an average increase of 560%, drawing outrage from legislators and advocates.

“When you see a 500% proposed increase come across — it’s crazy,” Dathan said. “I’m pretty upset about it because I’ve been trying to find a way to get [solutions] adopted.”

CT Mirror reporter Keith M. Phaneuf contributed to this story.