NOTEBOOK: Long-term care on insurance commissioner’s mind
JOE GARDYASZ Jun 30, 2016 | 8:10 pm
<1 min read time
0 wordsBusiness Record Insider, The Insider NotebookIowa’s insurance commissioner plans to convene an informal think tank of experts later this summer to brainstorm policy changes to improve the faltering long-term care insurance industry.
“It’s not just an Iowa issue on long-term care,” said Commissioner Nick Gerhart, who noted that a large long-term care insurer in Pennsylvania is on the verge of collapsing, and that other carriers are in financial trouble as well.
With products not priced adequately to cover spikes in claims, “it’s been kind of a perfect storm on the product side,” Gerhart said. The Iowa Insurance Division has seen rate renewal requests of up to 200 percent from some carriers in Iowa this year, he noted.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which includes all of the states’ commissioners, has separately formed its own national task force to address the issue.
Gerhart believes that helping insurers find ways to increase market share will lead to a more predictable, sustainable product overall. Currently, fewer than 7 percent of Iowans have long-term care insurance coverage.
Some possible solutions could be development of new types of products, or perhaps better consumer education about the products, Gerhart mused.
“Are there ways we can make it a more available experience, both in price and on the back end if you need to use it?” he said. “In many respects, people look at it as a savings plan. What can be done to help people shift that risk of going into a care facility?”
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