The group long-term care insurance market is shrinking as two major players have bowed out of future sales in the last two weeks. American General and Prudential both announced this month they will stop accepting new applications for LTC policies.

Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance says these are just the latest casualties of the "new economic times we are experiencing, the historic low interest rates and the regulatory environment at the state level."

"The problem [of needing long term care] certainly has not diminished and a government option is not anywhere on the horizon but for the immediate future insurers seem to be saying to governments 'this is your problem' or really your state's taxpayers' problem," Slome said in an email. "At some point, we are optimistic that things will turn around and there will be an environment that makes a private solution attractive again to insurers."