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December 25, 2012 at 06:55 AM
The passing year was a painfully educational year for the people involved with selling, writing and administering private long-term care insurance (LTCI) coverage
Just as members of the LTCI community were starting to get the hang of getting consumers to think about the need for planning for long-term care (LTC) expenses, the community that underwriting the coverage is trickier than originally expected; that policyholders who suspect that they might need LTCI benefits hang on to their policies with a titanium grip; and that LTCI businesses suffer when interest rates hover near 0 percent for years at a time.
Here’s a look at the five most frequently read stories we ran in the LTCI section in our Health Channel from Dec. 18, 2011, to Dec. 18, 2012.
1. Genworth Plans to Raise Some LTCI Rates 50%
Executives at Genworth Financial have been fighting tooth and claw to keep the LTCI market vibrant, and they said in August that they would have to make pricing and product design changes to adapt to changing times.
Martin Klein, then the company’s acting chief executive officer, said Genworth had to improve the profitability of the products.
“These products need to provide value not only for policyholders but also for shareholders,” Klein said.
2. Court Blocks Liquidation of Penn Treaty
In May, a Pennsylvania state court judge, Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt, suggested in an order that the state insurance commissioner ought to try harder to rehabilitate Penn Treaty Network American Insurance Company (PTNA) and a major Penn Treaty subsidiary, American Network Insurance Company.
Penn Treaty helped create the modern LTCI market.
