Description: Editor's preview of the September 2008 issue of the LTC Section news, including articles on claim reserves, claimant perspectives, independent providers, caregiver perspectives, and recent research. projects.

Description: Following up on recent articles on claim reserves and retrospective testing, this article examines some data quality and methodology issues related to calculating LTCI claim reserves.

Description: Remarks on the pricing of joint LTC policies illustrate the need for an actuary's responsibility to the law, and to best practices, to take precendence over serving sales, marketing and underwriting objectives.

Description: An overview of the various track topics and sessions in the 9th Annual ILTCI Conference.

Description: Discussion of the implications of a newly adopted NAIC Long-Term Care Insurance Model Regulation provision, which requires benefit trigger decisions to be subject to review by an independent third party, after the insured has exhausted all avenues of internal appeal.

Description: A summary of a scientific paper written to address the differences and similarities between the option pricing method now more commonly known as fair valuation and the actuarial appraisal method.

Description: Restoration of Benefits ROB: the provision of a long-term care policy that allows policyholders to restore their maximum benefit period after they have used some or nearly all of their policy benefits to pay for a covered claim event. This is a provision that should be managed closely.

Description: One of the dangers in any sort of modeling, whether for insurance experience or in financial portfolios, is becoming too reliant upon statistics and models, and not keeping reasoned, experienced judgment in sight. This article provides ways to address adverse experience possibilities resulting from misestimation risk.

Description: High points of AcademyHealth’s LTC group policy seminar are discussed, including the relationship between post-acute care PAC and long-term care bundling PAC payments and the implications of research in this area of long-term care.

Description: A discussion of reverse mortgages, and their suitability for meeting the long term care needs of seniors who want to stay in their homes.