Long-term care benefits program suspended amid cost issues

The federal government has suspended for two years its sale of long-term care insurance policies to its employees and some industry experts question whether the program ever will return in its current form, reports Forbes. The long-running initiative, called the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program, was halted when John Hancock Life & Health Insurance Co., the carrier that operated the program, warned the federal Office of Personnel Management that current premiums are unsustainable and it likely would have to request significant rate hikes.