Michael Fox — Licensed Insurance Advisor
Michael Fox Insurance
Phone: 856-676-9358
Email: michaelfox133@icloud.com
michaelfoxinsurance.online
Understanding OneAmerica Asset Care
Plain-English breakdown — Michael Fox Insurance
Printed July 31, 2026
Product Breakdown
OneAmerica Asset Care: the policy that doesn't stop paying.
Almost every long-term care policy sold today hands you a pool of money with a bottom. Asset Care is one of the last policies in America that can be built so the care benefits never run out — for one spouse or for both. Here's exactly how it works, what it's great at, and where it genuinely falls short.
Benefit duration
Lifetime
Optional — the reason people buy it
Covers
1 or 2 lives
Joint policy for couples
Carrier since
1877
Mutual, never left the LTC market
The simple idea
Move money you'll never spend. Turn it into care that can't run out.
You're not buying insurance in the old sense. You're taking an asset that's sitting there doing very little and giving it a much bigger job.
Care benefits that never run out
Most hybrid policies give you a pool — 4 years, 6 years, whatever you bought. When the pool is empty, the checks stop. Asset Care can be designed with Lifetime Continuation of Benefits: as long as you qualify for care, the monthly benefit keeps coming. Forever. That is the headline.
One policy can cover both spouses
Asset Care is built for couples. A joint policy covers both of you — and with lifetime benefits, both of you can be on claim at the same time, for as long as you each need care, without cutting into each other's coverage.
Your money is never wasted
If you never need a day of care, your family receives a tax-free death benefit. Change your mind? There's a return-of-premium option. Unlike traditional LTC insurance, you are not renting coverage — you are repositioning an asset.
How it works
From your savings account to a monthly care check — six steps
- 1
You reposition money you already have
A CD, savings, a non-qualified annuity, or even IRA dollars. This is money you set aside 'just in case' — Asset Care turns it into far more care dollars than it could ever be on its own.
- 2
It becomes a life insurance policy first
The foundation is whole life insurance with a guaranteed death benefit. Everything else — the care benefits — is built on top of that base.
- 3
Long-term care benefits are unlocked
Your monthly care benefit is a percentage of the death benefit (commonly 2% or 3% per month). A $300,000 death benefit at 2% pays $6,000 a month for care.
- 4
You choose how long the benefits last
Two years (the base death benefit), or add Continuation of Benefits for a fixed extra period — or Lifetime, which never stops.
- 5
At claim time, care gets paid for
After a 90-day elimination period and certification that you need help with 2 of 6 daily activities (or have cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's), benefits begin. Home care, assisted living, memory care, or a nursing home.
- 6
Whatever you don't use goes to your family
Any remaining death benefit passes income-tax-free to your beneficiaries. The dollars always land somewhere useful.
Interactive
What could your money turn into?
Move the sliders. This is the same conversation we'd have at my kitchen table — just faster.
Money you'd reposition (single premium)
$150,000
Monthly care benefit rate
2% of death benefit / month
What care costs in your area, per month
$7,500
Rough educational math only — not a quote. Real numbers depend on your age, health, gender, state, and the exact design we build.
Tax-free death benefit
$285,000
If you never need care
Monthly care benefit
$5,700
Every month you're on claim
Base 2-year value
$136,800
Before any continuation rider
If you needed 6 years
$410,400
Lifetime option: no ceiling at all
Your benefit covers about 76% of a typical monthly care bill at $7,500.
With the Lifetime option, that monthly check keeps arriving for as long as you need care — even at year 15.
Five ways to pay for it
You almost certainly already have the money
Single premium
You have a lump sum sitting in a CD, savings, or a maturing annuity.
One payment, done forever. The most efficient use of 'safe money' you were never going to spend.
Pay over 10 or 20 years
You'd rather keep liquidity and pay from cash flow.
Level, guaranteed premiums for a set number of years — then it's paid up. No surprise rate increases, ever.
Lifetime pay
You want the lowest possible annual outlay.
Smaller yearly premium, paid as long as the policy is in force. Still guaranteed to never increase.
Annuity funding (Annuity Care)
You own a non-qualified annuity with a big gain you don't want to tax.
A 1035 exchange moves the annuity in, and care withdrawals can come out tax-free under pension-protection rules — one of the smartest moves in the entire product line.
IRA / qualified money
You have IRA dollars you'll never spend and don't want your kids inheriting a tax bill.
Asset Care has a specific design that spreads the IRA into the policy over 10 or 20 years, managing the tax hit while converting a taxable account into leveraged, mostly tax-free care dollars.
The honest scorecard
Everything I like — and everything I'd want you to know first
No product wins every category. If an agent tells you one does, walk away.
What it does better than anyone
True lifetime benefits — the differentiator
Very few carriers will still write unlimited long-term care benefits. Asset Care will. If your real fear is a 10-, 15-, or 20-year Alzheimer's or Parkinson's claim, this is the product built for that exact fear.
Joint coverage that's genuinely joint
Both spouses covered under one policy, both able to claim, and with the lifetime option neither one drains the other's benefits. For couples with an age gap, this quietly solves a problem other carriers can't.
Guaranteed premiums, guaranteed benefits
Whole-life chassis. The premium can never be raised — which is exactly what went wrong with old traditional LTC policies that hit people with 60%+ rate increases in retirement.
Very generous underwriting
Asset Care is often approvable when other carriers decline. No blood or urine required in many designs — typically a phone interview, medical records, and a cognitive screen. Health issues that kill a Securian or Nationwide case often still fly here.
IRA and annuity money welcome
Most competitors won't touch qualified money. OneAmerica built an entire funding solution around it. If your 'extra' money is trapped in an IRA, this may be the only clean answer.
Care where you actually want it — at home
Home care, adult day care, assisted living, memory care, nursing home. It also covers informal/family caregiver benefits in many designs, so a daughter isn't quitting her job for free.
The money never evaporates
Death benefit if you don't need care. Return-of-premium option if you change your mind. Compare that to traditional LTC where 20 years of premiums buy you nothing if you die in your sleep at 88.
Nearly 150 years of stability
OneAmerica is a mutual organization founded in 1877 — no shareholders demanding quarterly performance. They've never exited the LTC market when it got hard. Many carriers did.
Where it costs you something
Lower monthly benefit for the same premium
This is the trade. Lifetime coverage costs something, and it shows up as a smaller monthly check on day one. A six-year competitor policy will often show a bigger number at the top of the illustration for the same dollars.
Less growth on the cash value side
Whole-life chassis with modest guaranteed growth. If you want maximum internal accumulation or a large residual death benefit, other products are more efficient.
Reimbursement-style, not pure cash indemnity
Most Asset Care designs reimburse qualified care expenses rather than depositing cash with no strings. That means paperwork and receipts at claim time. Nationwide CareMatters, by contrast, is cash indemnity.
You have to tie up real money
Single-premium designs mean a meaningful sum leaves your control (though the return-of-premium option can bring it back). This isn't a $150/month decision.
Lifetime benefits cost more than most people need
Honest math: the average long-term care claim runs about 2.5 to 3 years. Most people will never exhaust a six-year pool. Paying for unlimited coverage means paying for a tail risk you'll probably never hit — you're buying it for the small chance that does hit.
90-day elimination period
You cover the first 90 days of care yourself. Budget roughly $20,000–$30,000 depending on your area and level of care.
Inflation protection is an add-on
Care costs climb about 3–5% a year. Without an inflation rider, a benefit that looks strong today can look thin in 25 years — and the rider raises the premium meaningfully.
Head to head
Asset Care vs. the typical hybrid policy
| What matters | OneAmerica Asset Care | Most other hybrids |
|---|---|---|
| How long benefits can last | Lifetime — never runs out | Typically capped at 4–7 years |
| Monthly benefit per premium dollar | Lower on day one | Usually higher up front |
| How you get paid | Reimbursement of care costs | Cash indemnity available (Nationwide) |
| Couples on one policy | Yes — joint, both fully covered | Some offer joint, often shared pool |
| Fund it with IRA money | Yes — purpose-built design | Rarely accepted |
| Underwriting friendliness | Among the most forgiving | Stricter; more declines |
| Premium guarantee | Guaranteed, can't increase | Also guaranteed on hybrids |
| Cash value growth | Modest, conservative | Often stronger |
General comparison for education. Specific features vary by design, state, and issue age.
The decision in one paragraph
Bigger check now, or a check that never stops?
Here's the whole thing. A competitor will usually show you a bigger monthly benefit for the same premium — but that benefit sits inside a pool with a bottom. Six years, and it's over. Asset Care shows you a smaller monthly benefit that, with the Lifetime option, has no bottom at all.
The average long-term care claim runs about two and a half to three years. On that math, a six-year pool wins — you get more money per month and you'll probably never touch the far end.
But averages don't protect families. Alzheimer's doesn't care about averages. Ten, fifteen, even twenty years of care is a real outcome, and it's the exact outcome that bankrupts households and swallows inheritances. If that's the fear that keeps you up, you are not buying a monthly number — you're buying the guarantee that nobody ever calls to say your benefits are exhausted.
Pick Asset Care when your worst-case scenario is "we ran out." Pick a six-year policy when your priority is the biggest possible monthly benefit for the dollars you're putting in.
Is this you?
Asset Care fits well if…
- Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or long-duration illness runs in your family
- You're a couple — especially with an age gap between you
- You have $75k–$400k of 'safe money' you'll never spend
- You have IRA or annuity dollars earmarked for the kids, not for income
- You've been declined or rated by another long-term care carrier
- You want the certainty of never being told 'your benefits are exhausted'
Look elsewhere if…
- You want the biggest possible monthly benefit for the smallest premium
- You want cash with no receipts at claim time (look at Nationwide)
- You want a large death benefit for heirs as the primary goal
- You need every dollar liquid and can't set money aside
- You're comfortable self-funding a long care event out of a large portfolio
Straight answers to the questions I always get
Let's run your actual numbers — no obligation.
In 20 minutes I'll show you the real premium for your age and health, what the monthly care benefit would be, and an honest side-by-side against the six-year alternatives. If Asset Care isn't the right answer for you, I'll tell you that too.
Or call me directly: (856) 676-9358
Important — educational illustration only
The figures shown are hypothetical and produced by a simplified model for education and discussion only. They are not a quote, projection, recommendation, or guarantee of future results. Actual outcomes vary based on your individual circumstances — including age, health, income, tax filing status, state of residence, time horizon, market performance, product design, carrier underwriting, and changes in tax law. Tax-advantaged strategies referenced (e.g., Roth conversions, cash value loans, qualified plan withdrawals) carry rules and consequences that depend on your specific situation; cash value life insurance assumes the contract is properly structured (non-MEC) and remains in force. Nothing on this page constitutes tax, legal, accounting, or individualized investment advice. Please consult your own licensed tax professional, attorney, and financial advisor before acting on any concept presented here.
Keep exploring
Related resources worth your time
More long-term care guides worth reading next.
Understanding Long-Term Care
Start here — what care actually costs and how modern policies work.
Read: Understanding Long-Term CareNationwide CareMatters
The cash-indemnity alternative — bigger monthly checks, no receipts.
Read: Nationwide CareMattersDon't Make Your Kids Your LTC Plan
What happens to your children when there's no plan in place.
Read: Don't Make Your Kids Your LTC Plan10 LTC Objections — Answered
The most common pushbacks, answered honestly.
Read: 10 LTC Objections — Answered