Long-Term Care Insurance: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

New York Life leads the Long-Term Care Insurance benchmark in September 2026 with 72.7% valid recommendation coverage, holding a narrow 2.3 percentage point advantage over Mutual of Omaha, which recorded 70.4% in the same month. The largest coverage increase came from Transamerica, which rose to 17.6% in September 2026 from 3.1% in August 2026. The largest coverage decline was Nationwide, which fell to 55.1% in September 2026 from 75.5% in August 2026.

The month featured significant movement in both directions, with Transamerica the only significant riser and both National Guardian Life and Nationwide classified as significant decliners. National Guardian Life fell to 15.3% in September 2026 from 31.6% in August 2026, a 16.3 percentage point decline. Several other brands also declined but within normal month-to-month variation, including Mutual of Omaha (down to 70.4% from 79.6%) and Northwestern Mutual (down to 47.2% from 56.1%). New York Life held comparatively steady, yet still took the leadership position.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 98 qualified observations in August 2026 and 216 qualified observations in September 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the number of canonical AI/search surface families, out of six total, that produced at least one qualified observation. The six families are ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Long-Term Care Insurance

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The table below shows how observations were filtered through the research pipeline.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. Link AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view, covering September 2026.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: Share of qualified benchmark observations in which the brand was mentioned at all, regardless of whether it was recommended.
• Valid recommendation coverage: Share of qualified benchmark observations in which the brand received a valid recommendation within the answer.
• Top-three rate: Share of qualified benchmark observations in which the brand appeared in the first three recommended positions.
• Rank-one rate: Share of qualified benchmark observations in which the brand was the first or primary recommendation.
• Net sentiment: Positive mentions minus negative mentions, divided by total mentions, producing a score between -1 and 1.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

The table below tracks valid recommendation coverage from the baseline month (August 2026) to the current month (September 2026).

Largest Increase: Transamerica

Transamerica moved from 3.1% valid recommendation coverage in August 2026 to 17.6% in September 2026. The 14.5-point jump represents the only significant rise in the benchmark. Presence rose alongside coverage, from 4.1% of observations in August 2026 to 24.1% in September 2026. Top-three placement also increased, from 2.0% to 8.8%, while rank-one placement rose from 0.0% to 0.9%. The brand was present in 52 of 216 observations in September 2026, up from 4 of 98 in August 2026.

Largest Decline: Nationwide

Nationwide fell by 20.4 percentage points, from 75.5% to 55.1% valid recommendation coverage — the largest decline in the benchmark. Presence dropped from 90.8% to 66.2%, and top-three placement fell from 67.3% to 31.9% over the same period. Rank-one placement was essentially flat at 4.6% in September 2026 versus 4.1% in August 2026. Nationwide was present in 143 of 216 observations in September 2026, down from 89 of 98 in August 2026.

Decline Beyond Normal Variation: National Guardian Life

National Guardian Life declined to 15.3% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026 from 31.6% in August 2026, a 16.3 percentage point drop beyond normal variation. Presence fell from 35.7% to 16.2%, while the brand was recommended in 33 of 216 observations in September 2026 versus 31 of 98 in August 2026.

Category Leader: New York Life

New York Life became the category leader through stability, not growth — its 72.7% coverage in September 2026 was nearly unchanged from 73.5% in August 2026. Presence also held steady, at 87.5% in September 2026 versus 88.8% in August 2026, and the brand was recommended in 157 of 216 observations.

Other movers within normal variation included Mutual of Omaha (down to 70.4% in September 2026 from 79.6% in August 2026), Northwestern Mutual (down to 47.2% from 56.1%), Lincoln Financial (down to 10.2% from 12.2%), Thrivent (down to 7.4% from 9.2%), and Genworth (up to 1.4% from 1.0%).

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The leading brands show distinct placement profiles. New York Life led on coverage but Mutual of Omaha held a substantially higher first-position rate.

Similar coverage rates can still hide different first-position rates. New York Life and Mutual of Omaha were within 2.3 percentage points on coverage, yet Mutual of Omaha held a 29.2% rank-one rate versus 4.6% for New York Life — a 24.6-point first-choice gap.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both August 2026 and September 2026 fell into the Brand Recommendation class, meaning consumers or researchers at the discovery and consideration stage seeking named long-term care insurance providers.

The current public series measures brand recommendation discovery only; pricing, value, and head-to-head comparison questions have no public signal in this data.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

• Market share or sales attributable to any brand
• Every possible AI response across all models, versions, or user configurations
• Organic search engine ranking performance
• Social media mention volume or sentiment
• Private, gated, or sponsored AI channels
• Causality from a metric movement alone

The current dataset cannot answer pricing, value, or multi-brand comparison questions, and single-month movements should not yet be treated as established trends.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index is a neutral, category-level benchmark that measures how AI search and chat surfaces present brands in response to consumer and business research questions. The index tracks presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment on a consistent, audited basis across six canonical AI surface families.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper.

The public percentages cannot identify the prompts, competitors, or sources causing the result.

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