Description: The article provides an overview of the federal tax treatment of long-term care insurance contracts, including a brief history of the tax treatment of long-term care insurance, the requirements that must be satisfied in order to be treated as qualified long-term care insurance under the Internal Revenue Code, and a brief discussion of qualified long-term care combination products and chronic and terminal illness accelerated death benefits offered under life insurance contracts.

Description: Family caregivers are a critical link in providing long-term services and supports (LTSS), but they have significant unmet needs. To better support family caregivers, Congress authorized the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, & Engage (RAISE) Family Caregivers Act in 2018 and created the RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council. The Council identified recommendations to serve as the backbone of a national strategy to improve the physical, emotional and financial well-being of family caregivers. A new report, "Asking Directions: Mapping a Course to Support Family Caregivers," identifies specific actions across a variety of players for meeting the Council’s recommendations. It summarizes insights from a year’s worth of strategy sessions and interviews with representatives of over 100 organizations. The report brings together thoughts on best practices and the most critical action steps from national and state organizations, county health providers, the direct care workforce, large and small employers, aging and disability organizations, faith-based groups, respite care providers and more. This article summarizes the research methods and key findings of the report and the work conducted by the Leading Age LTSS Center @UMass Boston and Community Catalyst’s Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation.

Description: This excerpt is from a presentation done by a panelist at the Intercompany Long-Term Care Insurance Conference Association closing session in Chicago in March. We can never fully express our thanks to the Alzheimer’s Association and Tom Doyle for the courage to share his moving story and optimism for the future.

Description: Cognitive tests used in the long-term care insurance industry differ in cognitive domains tested, time required for testing, ease of test administration, sensitivity and specificity. Recently, new approaches to scoring or testing have improved test utility for screening for cognitive impairment.

Description: The Minnesota Cognitive Acuity Screen MCAS is a brief cognitive screen that has been validated to correctly identify mild to moderate cognitive impairment in 98.1 percent of all cases. The MCAS has been in use in the LTCI industry for more than five years, and has shown excellent results in reducing early cognitive claims.

Description: Description of French long term care claim evaluation system

Description: A discussion about change. Change is constant and will continue—some of it predictable; some of it not. Knowledge is the best tool for understanding change, and this publication is a great forum for allowing the best and brightest to share.

Description: Description of Long Term Care programs in various European countries

Description: Description * Coinsurance has not been widely offered as a benefit reduction option to offset long-term care premium rate increases. This article uses an illustrative example to evaluate the potential impact coinsurance could have on an insurance carrier's future claim liabilities and a policyholder's premium rates. It also explores various considerations insurance carriers, regulators, and policyholders should think about when evaluating whether coinsurance is the right option.

Description: Read the November 2020 issue of Long-Term Care News published by the Long-Term Care Insurance Section. Newsletters provide practical information for the working actuary, articles on trends that impact sections and news about section activities.