Long-term care insurance companies paid $8.15 billion in claim benefits to 260,000 individuals in 2015, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.

“Total benefit payments increased by nearly 4%, and the number of LTC insurance policyholders on claim grew by roughly 10,000,” said Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance, the national trade group that reports annual claims data. In 2014, AALTCI reported that total claims amounted to $7.85 billion paid to some 250,000 individuals.

The increase was not unexpected, Slome told McKnight’s Senior Living, and should be covered by insurers’ reserves. In 2013, he noted, AALTCI released a study that found that by 2032, insurers expect to pay $34 billion in claims.