Description: The "Think Tank on Steroids" group at the DI and LTC Insurers’ Forum brainstormed about what the United States should do in order to deal with the impending Long-Term Care problem in the United States. The group’s ideal plan for dealing with Long Term Care can be thought of as a three-legged stool. The legs are private savings and assets (including tax-advantaged LTC savings accounts), Long-Term Care Insurance (including smaller, more affordable products), and support from the family. The Medicaid system ought to be reformed so that it is only available to people who have exhausted all other options. The ongoing Think Tank will continue this conversation and publish a white paper detailing the Think Tank’s solution to the problem.

Description: This article summarizes the presentations by the Society of Actuaries and the Academy of Actuaries at the January 2015 National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) Roundtables in Washington DC. SOA presented on the 2014 SOA monograph series "The Link between Retirement Security and Long-Term Care."

Description: For a long time the primary focus of private LTC insurance companies has been to educate the public about the need for private LTC insurance and to make the product more acceptable to a wider population. To this end there have been numerous changes to the product design to make this product more acceptable to general population. However, one of the things that may have been overlooked in those product design changes is the need for alignment of policyholder and insurance company’s interests, which is to make coverage more affordable and to reduce adverse selection. Incentivizing good behavior from policyholders can not only make LTC insurance policies less expensive but also help policyholders make better health choices, which can help them stay healthy for a longer time. These incentives may also reduce some of the inherent risks in a long term care policy and may help in increasing the sales of private LTC insurance.

Description: The author discusses health care practices in Japan and how the US could successfully adopt some of them.

Description: Growing in popularity, coverage of Independent Provider services under long-term care insurance plans providing home health care benefits presents unique challenges—from product design to claims practices.

Description: Describes benefits of updating homes for aging in place. Calls for stakeholders coalition of: building & tech sectors, LTCI, homecare, health insurance & care.

Description: Proposes setting premiums such that inflation and age could change the premium over time, rather than prefunding. The value may be to change the approach to pricing LTC and improve the risk.

Description: Overview on current trends in medical practice impacting the LTC insurance business with a focus on dementia, risk stratification, and predictive modeling.

Description: Description of benefit reduction options that are available to insureds at the time of a rate increase and how regulators may view them.

Description: There are many ways to manage a long-term care closed block of policies but some of the common ones are rate increases, enhancement of claim practices and helping policyholders to remain independent and thriving at home.