Neither one is the better company. They are mostly not competing for the same purchase. Genworth reports that its legacy insurance subsidiaries no longer offer or sell long term care, life insurance or annuity products, and that it has not actively sold life insurance and fixed annuity products since 2016. What the Genworth group sells to individuals now is long term care coverage, written since October 2025 through CareScout Insurance Company. Mutual of Omaha writes a full individual life line today, from term through indexed universal life, and it writes long term care as well. That overlap on the care side is exactly why households holding one of each so often file them as the same kind of company.
At a glance
| Genworth | Mutual of Omaha | |
|---|---|---|
| What each sells to individuals now | New long term care coverage through CareScout Insurance Company | Life insurance, long term care, Medicare supplement and more |
| New individual life insurance | Legacy companies no longer offer or sell it | Written today through agents, brokers and online |
| Who issues the older life policies | Genworth Life, Genworth Life and Annuity, Genworth Life of New York | United of Omaha Life (Companion Life in New York) |
| Company structure | Genworth Financial, Inc., listed on the New York Stock Exchange | A mutual company, owned by its policyholders |
| Best known for | Long term care insurance, which it says it helped pioneer | Medicare supplement plans and individual life insurance |
| Life products on the shelf | None new. In force blocks hold term, universal and term universal life | Term Life Answers, Term Life Express, whole life, AccumUL Answers, two indexed plans |
| Long term care product today | Care Assurance, issued by CareScout Insurance Company | Long term care insurance issued by Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company |
| Where the current products are available | Care Assurance was live in 40 states as of February 2026 | Nationwide, with New York policies written by Companion Life |
| Medical questions on a small permanent policy | Not offered. Long term care has its own separate underwriting | No exam and no health questions on the whole life plan sold direct |
One writes new life insurance. The other moved its new business to long term care.
Both names turn up in the same households, and both belong in a long term care conversation, so it is easy to file them as one kind of company. They are not. The split is what each one writes today. Genworth Financial reports that its legacy insurance subsidiaries, Genworth Life Insurance Company, Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company and Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York, no longer offer or sell long term care, life insurance or annuity products, and that it has not actively sold life insurance and fixed annuity products since 2016. Those blocks are still serviced and claims are still paid. The group's new business now runs through CareScout Insurance Company, which launched an individual long term care product called Care Assurance in October 2025. Mutual of Omaha sits on the other side of that line. It writes new individual life insurance today, underwritten by United of Omaha Life Insurance Company and by Companion Life Insurance Company in New York, and it writes long term care as well. So a death benefit issued this year points to one of these two, while a long term care quote can start at either.
Who each one actually suits
Genworth
A publicly traded group best known for long term care insurance
- The risk you want covered is the cost of care at home or in a facility rather than a death benefit, because that is the problem this company was built around.
- You already hold a Genworth long term care policy and want to keep it, which is often the right call given how strict long term care underwriting is at an older age.
- You want long term care coverage from the group that says it helped pioneer this insurance over forty years ago, now written as Care Assurance through CareScout Insurance Company.
- Benefit design is the part you want to work through carefully: the daily or monthly maximum, the elimination period, the benefit period and inflation protection. Genworth describes Care Assurance as offering customizable levels of coverage and inflation protection.
- You like being able to read the audited annual report yourself, which is public for Genworth Financial because it files with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a listed company.
Mutual of Omaha
A policyholder owned Omaha mutual writing life and long term care coverage
- You need life insurance issued now, since Mutual of Omaha writes term, whole life, universal life and indexed universal life to individuals today.
- You want a small permanent policy with no medical exam and no health questions, which Mutual of Omaha sells direct in amounts of $2,000 to $25,000 in most states, at ages 45 to 85, and 50 to 75 in New York.
- You would rather apply yourself online, in what the company describes as a simple four step application you can finish in as little as five minutes.
- You like that a mutual answers to its policyholders rather than to outside shareholders, which Mutual of Omaha has done for more than a century from Omaha, Nebraska.
- You want life insurance and long term care coverage under one service relationship, since this is a company that writes both today.
If you already hold one of them
If you already hold one of these, settle what you are actually holding before anyone compares anything. On the Genworth side, read the schedule page: a daily or monthly maximum, an elimination period and inflation protection means long term care, while a death benefit and a named beneficiary means life insurance, and the two behave nothing alike. A Genworth life policy is usually worth keeping as it is, because it was priced on the age and health you had the day it was issued and there is no newer Genworth version to move into. If what you have is a long term care rate increase notice, Genworth publishes options short of cancelling, including keeping your current coverage, adjusting the coverage, or stopping payments and taking a paid-up policy, so that is worth reading before anything else. On a Mutual of Omaha policy, check whether you hold the whole life plan bought direct or a plan an agent wrote, since the two are underwritten differently. Bring us either one and we will read it with you, including when the answer is that nothing needs to change.
Common questions
Does Genworth still sell life insurance?
Not through its legacy insurance companies. Genworth Financial reports that Genworth Life Insurance Company and its subsidiaries no longer offer or sell long term care insurance, life insurance or annuity products, and that it has not actively sold its life insurance and fixed annuity products since 2016, or its variable annuity products since 2011. Those companies continue to service and manage the blocks already in force. If you want a new death benefit today, Mutual of Omaha is the one of these two writing that business, and it is worth setting its quote next to a few other carriers before you decide.
Both companies sell long term care insurance. Are they the same product?
No, and this is where the two get mixed up most. Genworth's new long term care coverage is Care Assurance, launched in October 2025 by CareScout Insurance Company, after the group ceased sales of long term care insurance through Genworth Life Insurance Company on October 1, 2025. Genworth reported Care Assurance as live in 40 states as of February 2026, with more state approvals pending. Mutual of Omaha's long term care insurance is issued by Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company on its own policy forms. Benefits and availability vary by state on both, so compare the actual benefit design rather than the brand on the envelope.
My Genworth policy is from a company that stopped selling. Is it still valid?
Yes. A policy already in force is a contract, and closing a product line to new sales does not change what the insurer owes on what it already issued. Genworth states that its legacy insurance subsidiaries continue to service and manage their in force blocks, and it notes they may still issue a limited number of certificates under existing group long term care insurance policies. Keep paying premiums according to the terms, keep your beneficiary current, and file a claim the same way you always would.
Who actually issues each policy?
On the Genworth side, older life, annuity and long term care contracts were issued by Genworth Life Insurance Company, Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company, or Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York, and the new long term care product is issued by CareScout Insurance Company, all under Genworth Financial, Inc., which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GNW. Mutual of Omaha life insurance is underwritten by United of Omaha Life Insurance Company, and in New York by Companion Life Insurance Company of Melville, New York, while its long term care insurance is issued by Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company. The name on the first page of your policy is the company that pays the claim. We do not print financial strength grades here, because they change and a figure copied into an article ages badly. Look each issuer up yourself at ambest.com.
Why did my Genworth long term care premium go up?
Long term care premium changes are a regulated process, not something an insurer sets on its own. Genworth reports that in general it implements rate increases on its long term care policies in accordance with the laws of the state in which the policy was issued, and that it works closely with state regulators on its in force rate action plan. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners adopted a Long-Term Care Insurance Multistate Rate Review Framework in April 2022 and adopted amendments to it in 2025. Two practical points follow. The increase tracks the state where the policy was written rather than where you live now, and cancelling is not the only response available, so read the options in the notice before you decide anything.
Does either one require a medical exam?
It depends entirely on which coverage you mean. Mutual of Omaha sells its guaranteed whole life plan direct with no medical exam and no health questions, in amounts of $2,000 to $25,000 in most states at ages 45 to 85, while its term and universal life products are underwritten in the ordinary way and can involve an exam. Long term care insurance is its own review at both companies, and it is generally a closer look than life underwriting because the insurer is pricing the odds of you needing care rather than the odds of you dying. Answer every health question accurately either way, since a life policy carries a contestability period of roughly two years.
Which one is cheaper?
Nobody can answer that honestly before knowing your age, your health, the coverage amount and the state you live in, and in this pair the question usually does not compare like with like anyway. A long term care premium buys a pool of benefits for care services, and a life premium buys a death benefit, so they are answers to different problems. Within long term care, the price moves with the daily or monthly maximum, the benefit period, the elimination period and whether you add inflation protection, which is why two quotes from the same company can look nothing alike. Fix the job you want done first, then have real quotes run on your own information and read them side by side.
If I already have one of these, should I switch to the other?
Not automatically, and often not at all. Coverage you already own was priced on the health you had when it was issued, so if your health has changed since, replacing it can cost more or may not be available on the same terms. Any honest comparison starts by valuing what you already hold, and a review that ends in keep what you have is a perfectly good result.
Can I hold policies from both companies at once?
Yes. There is no rule against owning coverage from more than one insurer, and plenty of households do, often because policies were bought at different life stages for different reasons. What matters is that the total coverage matches what your family would actually need, and that you are not paying twice for the same job.
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This comparison is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Product availability, pricing and underwriting differ by state, age and health, and change over time. Policy Review Center is a free comparison and referral service, not an insurance agency, insurer, or producer, and it connects you with independent licensed agents. Carrier names are used for reference only and do not imply any endorsement or affiliation.