The insurance provider John Hancock reported positive 4th quarter results for their long term care division, including an increase in sales.

John Hancock 4th Quarter Results

Manulife, better known as John Hancock in the United States, released its 4th quarter earnings recently and showed an uptick in sales of Long Term Care Insurance, indicating positive changes ahead for the company.

The company as a whole reported $138 million in net income in the 4th quarter of 2013, compared to $148 million in the same quarter of the previous year. Manulife also reported $282 million in total revenue, compared to a much higher $769 million in total revenue during the 4th quarter of 2012.

John Hancock is the 7th largest insurer in the United States and currently holds a large part of the Long Term Care Insurance market within the country, along with Genworth, MassMutual, and others. The company, unlike many others, experienced a reported surge of 15% in sales of Long Term Care Insurance policies throughout the first 9 months of 2013 and that increase continued in the 4th quarter, as well.

Long Term Care Insurance Division

Where many companies are seeing a drop in Long Term Carelong term care insurance Insurance sales, John Hancock is experiencing just the opposite.

Premiums from new Long Term Care Insurance sales increased to $13 million in the 4th quarter from $10 million. In addition, premium revenue was reported to be $465 million in the 4th quarter.

Manulife reported a $519 million mark-to-market paper loss related to net realized investment experience at the John Hancock Long-Term Care unit in the 4th quarter, up from $353 million in the comparable quarter in 2012. Though the paper value fell, the insurance obligation fell more, leading to an overall positive report.

The “mark to market” interpretation is required by Canada as part of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) accounting rules and includes the insertion of the results of changes in the value of investment portfolios and insurance obligations in their financial statements.

Long Term Care Insurance

Though many companies have been forced to raise rates for their Long Term Care Insurance products, sales have been improving recently as they better figure out how to balance the risk with premium costs. Genworth is another Long Term Care Insurance provider that saw improvements in their long term care division in the 4th quarter, as they ironed out some of the obstacles facing the unit.

Long Term Care Insurance provides benefits to those receiving care in nursing homes or other long term care settings like home care or an assisted living facility. To find out more about what exactly long term care is and what Long Term Care Insurance covers, click here. If you’d like to know how to cover the cost of a policy, read more here.

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