I appreciate the tag, Aja. I search the forums every week or so for my name and the "military" keyword.
And in this case, I don't feel that I have much more to contribute beyond what I've already said. Dad passed away last November (end-stage Alzheimer's) and we finished settling his estate last month. I'll eventually write another post about that (everything worked out all right). However I don't see any reason to revisit the insurance debate until we have another decade of claims data to show that the insurance companies really did get it right this time.
John Hancock is poorly run (or even hyperagressive about claims) and Genworth is one of the major factors sucking the cash out of GE.
GE's surprise $15 billion shortfall was 14 years in the making - Chicago Tribune
Note that the only major insurer left in the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program is... John Hancock. One reason is because the FLTCIP is still allowed to raise premiums (subject to an approval process), unlike many of the state-regulated programs.
Even USAA won't sell long-term care insurance policies. Or rather, they refer members to... John Hancock.
For those who haven't seen our family's story yet, this is why we're self-insuring for long-term care. Note that my father spent over six years in a care facility, his father spent nearly 14 years in a facility, and I've had my genome analyzed by 23andMe... so this self-insurance choice was not made lightly.
http://the-military-guide.com/wont-buy-long-term-care-insurance/
I agree that it reduces caregiver stress when you have someone else file the claim. One of the main reasons we've chosen to self-insure is precisely to avoid making life even harder on the caregivers. The "free money" (or what's left after paying premiums and the cost of filing the claim) isn't worth the cost.
However there's also the monthly stress of processing the receipts for reimbursement, dealing with the insurance company's antiquated procedures, and then tracking the payout in case they try to shortchange the insured-- as mentioned in that blog post. I went through over three years of that misery, but insurer incompetence is not illegal (even when it's profitable).