There is no single class action lawsuit that has produced a broad recovery for John Hancock long-term care policyholders. The largest collective payout tied to the company’s long-term care business came from a 2022 regulatory settlement with New York State worth $26.3 million, and a separate $123 million class action settlement that often gets grouped with John Hancock’s long-term care troubles actually involved universal life insurance policies, not long-term care coverage.
The $26.3 Million New York Settlement
In August 2022, the New York Department of Financial Services announced that John Hancock Life & Health Insurance Company had agreed to a $26.3 million consent order to resolve violations of New York Insurance Law tied to its long-term care business.1New York State Department of Financial Services. John Hancock Long-Term Care Settlement Press Release
Between February 2001 and July 2019, John Hancock miscalculated lifetime maximum benefits for holders of New York State Partnership for Long Term Care policies. When a policyholder used less than the full daily benefit amount on a given day, the company failed to roll the unused portion forward as the policy required. That error caused 156 policies to be terminated before the policyholders had actually exhausted their benefits, cutting off coverage for 27,161 days that should have been paid.1New York State Department of Financial Services. John Hancock Long-Term Care Settlement Press Release
The settlement required John Hancock to pay $21.6 million directly to affected consumers and their beneficiaries, $2.5 million as a penalty to the state, and $2.2 million to the New York Medicaid program to reimburse costs Medicaid may have covered after policies were wrongly cut off.1New York State Department of Financial Services. John Hancock Long-Term Care Settlement Press Release Because long-term care explanation-of-benefits statements can be difficult to interpret, most affected policyholders had no way to detect the miscalculation on their own.2ThinkAdvisor. Lessons From John Hancock’s LTCI Settlement
McElwee v. John Hancock: The Assisted Living Class Action
The clearest example of a class action aimed squarely at John Hancock’s long-term care policies is McElwee v. John Hancock, filed in late 2015. The suit alleged breach of contract and bad faith on behalf of policyholders living in continuing-care retirement communities. When residents transitioned from independent living to assisted living or skilled nursing care within the same facility, the complaint alleged, John Hancock failed to fully reimburse the increased cost of the dependent care.3ClassAction.org. Long-Term Care Insurance Lawsuits
The complaint’s theory was that residents had effectively prepaid for future care through their monthly facility fees, and that John Hancock acknowledged those same residents would have received full reimbursement if they had entered dependent care directly rather than transitioning within the community. As of early 2026, the ClassAction.org investigation into the matter is listed as complete, with no further investigation underway.3ClassAction.org. Long-Term Care Insurance Lawsuits
The $123 Million Life Insurance Settlement Is Not a Long-Term Care Case
A frequent point of confusion: the $123 million John Hancock class action settlement that circulated in 2022 was not a long-term care case. In Leonard, et al. v. John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York, et al. (Case No. 1:18-cv-04994-AKH), roughly 1,300 holders of universal life insurance policies alleged that John Hancock charged unlawful and excessive cost-of-insurance rates beginning in 2018 and 2019.4Hancock COI Settlement. Leonard v. John Hancock Settlement Information A New York federal judge granted preliminary approval of the $123 million settlement in January 2022.5Law360. John Hancock Insureds Get $123M Deal in Overcharging Suit Payments were distributed automatically through JND Legal Administration, and all deadlines for exclusion and objection passed by mid-2022.
A related life insurance case, Zaben LLC, et al. v. John Hancock Life Insurance Co. of New York, et al. (Case No. 7:23-cv-08178), is ongoing and makes similar cost-of-insurance allegations against variable rate life insurance policies.6Top Class Actions. John Hancock Class Action Claims Policyholders Forced to Pay Unlawful Excessive Cost of Insurance Charges Neither case covers long-term care policyholders.
Premium Increases Have Been the Bigger Practical Grievance
For most John Hancock long-term care policyholders, the source of frustration has not been a specific lawsuit but a repeated pattern of steep premium increases. John Hancock stopped selling new individual long-term care policies in 2016 and now administers more than a million in-force policies, many sold decades ago at rates that proved inadequate to cover actual claim costs.7S&P Global Market Intelligence. Manulife’s Reinsurance Deal Still a Rarity for Long-Term Care Space
The Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program
John Hancock administers the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program for federal employees and retirees. In 2016, the Office of Personnel Management approved an average premium increase of 83% for the program’s roughly 272,000 enrollees, with individual hikes ranging from zero to 126% depending on age and plan design. The average monthly premium jumped from $134 to $245. John Hancock attributed the increase to a $2.3 billion funding shortfall driven by longer-than-expected claim durations, lower investment returns, and updated mortality data.8U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. John Hancock Congressional Testimony on FLTCIP Premium Increases A House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing followed in November 2016, but no legislative action came out of it. OPM renewed John Hancock’s contract for a new seven-year term in May 2023.9FLTCIP. FLTCIP Oversight
State-Approved Increases
State filings tell a similar story. In Maryland, John Hancock’s Custom Care and Essential Care series drew approved increases of 15% in each of four consecutive years from 2012 through 2015, a 32.3% average increase in 2017, and a 43.8% average increase in 2020. A January 2025 actuarial filing for those same policies requested an additional flat increase of 121.6%, which the company proposed phasing in at up to 15% per year. If approved as filed, the average annual premium for a Maryland Custom Care policyholder would rise from roughly $5,400 to nearly $12,000.10Maryland Insurance Administration. John Hancock LTC Rate Filing, Custom Care and Essential Care Series A separate January 2025 filing for the Custom Care III series in Maryland asked for an average increase of 41.8%, with non-CPI policies facing 55.5%.11Maryland Insurance Administration. John Hancock LTC Rate Filing, Custom Care III Series
When these increases arrive, policyholders typically have to pay the higher premium, reduce the daily benefit amount, shorten the benefit period, downgrade inflation protection, or drop the policy. Rate increases have been approved through state regulatory processes rather than challenged successfully as class litigation.
Claim Denials and Handling Complaints
Attorneys who represent long-term care policyholders report that John Hancock claim denials often turn on the same recurring issues: assertions that medical records do not sufficiently document the need for care, disagreements over whether the policyholder requires help with activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, or eating, and disputes over the severity of cognitive impairments like dementia. Claims have also been denied when care was provided by a facility or caregiver that did not meet the policy’s specific requirements, or when a policy lapsed for nonpayment after a premium increase.12Pillsbury Coleman Law. John Hancock Long-Term Care Insurance Claims Attorney
An Illinois Department of Insurance market conduct examination covering 2013 reviewed 82 paid long-term care claims and found two that were not settled in a timely manner, and reviewed 15 denied claims and found three that had been improperly denied and were paid only after the policyholder appealed.13Illinois Department of Insurance. John Hancock Life Insurance Company Market Conduct Examination Report Individual denial disputes generally move through the policy’s internal appeal process, a state insurance department complaint, or an individual bad-faith lawsuit rather than through a class action.