Description: Update on LTC Section activities and other issues from the perspective of a Society of Actuaries' staff actuary.

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: Chairperson of the LTC Section reflects on his three-year term on the LTC Section Council.

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 article discusses the ways reinsurers support ceding companies: 1. Sharing morbidity risk. 2. Sharing other risks such as return on investment. 3. Sharing of expertise such as providing underwriting advice. 4. Sharing financial resources. 5. Sharing the role of consumer protection.

Description: Preparing an initial LTCI rate filing under the 2000 LTCI Model Regulation certification requirements. From Long-Term Care, Dec 2003, Issue No. 10

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: Discussion of the implications of the newly unveiled health care reform proposal by Senator Baucus. Key issues include abandonment of the CLASS Act, inclusion of LTC in cafeteria plans, funding and tax concerns, individual mandate, privacy concerns, play-or-pay employer mandate, impact on Medicare and Medicaid, and gridlock in the legislative finalization process.

Description: A model for an effective, cost efficient national public LTC/LTCI education program that will increase LTCI sales nationwide.