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September 22, 2004 at 08:00 PM
AARP, Washington, has released a survey report that describes consumers’ hunger for information about long term care insurance.[@@]
The survey was discussed recently during the fall meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo. Regulators who belong to the NAIC are working on updating the long term care insurance model regulation.
Van Ellet, an AARP representative, says the survey of 1,061 adults 45 years of age or older is intended as a first step. The second step will involve gathering consumer thoughts about LTC insurance information from focus groups. Researchers then will seek feedback from insurers that use the findings to test how additional information about LTC information is received by consumers. AARP will use the final results of the research to give regulators suggestions about ways to improve the LTC insurance model to strengthen disclosures and reporting efforts.
An unusually high percentage of the AARP panel members had LTC insurance: 79% of the 836 respondents said they had LTC insurance.
Among those who have LTC insurance, respondents’ level of being informed ranged from a high of 64% for how long the insurance company had been in business to a low of 24% for the ratio of the number of claims filed to claims paid. Another 57% said that they were informed of a company’s financial rating; 49%, about how many dollars the insurance premium increased; and 47%, about how often the insurance premium increased.
About 54% of the LTC insurance owners said they were not informed about the number of complaints against the insurer. That was the most common information shortfall.
