Regulators draft LTCI rating manual update

William Weller, a representative of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), and Steve Clayburn, a representative for the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), have asked the subgroup members to encourage states to have experienced people who understand how difficult understanding morbidity data can be look at the data; minimize how many different regulators ask for the data; ask only for data that will help consumers; and give insurers clear-cut protection for confidential data.

If a regulator does not want to treat what the insurance company thinks of as confidential information as a trade secret, or has no authority to protect the information, “the company should not be expected to complete the template,” Weller and Clayburn write in a comment letter.

In that situation, a company might show its data to a regulatory actuary without leaving the data with the actuary, or the state could have an independent actuary that can protect trade secrets review the data, the commenters say.

In the latest manual draft, subgroup members have suggested that regulators should be mindful of state laws governing confidentiality and public information. A company should clearly mark any information regarded as confidential, and a state should be mindful of state confidentiality laws, “to assure that the protections they afford are extended to a company marking information as protected,” according to the draft.