Factors Impacting Group Long-Term Care Insurance Enrollment Decisions

This paper examines factors that influence whether or not employees choose to enroll in a group long-term care insurance plan. A conceptual family decision-making framework is used to group factors to study the enrollment decision of 509 state employees who were offered a long-term care insurance plan in 2000. Logistic regression results revealed that employee age, perceived risk, perceived affordability, decision-making style (communication with others and use of information), goals of control and choice, goal of financial peace of mind, household income, and potential caregiver availability explained 68.7% of the decision to enroll. Results support the key role of perception, specifically the perceived risk of needing long-term care and the affordability of the insurance plan, in the decision outcome.