LIMRA’s MarketFacts Publication Features Univita’s Long Term Care Experience
Proquest LLC |
In a release, the Company noted:
Their findings are published in the recent issue of LIMRA's MarketFacts Quarterly. In addition to converting more long term care (LTC) insurance closed blocks than any other company in the industry, Univita's LTC division has over 1.4 million LTC policies under management, handling over 1 million claim transactions that pay over
For a variety of reasons, many insurance companies have exited the LTC market, leaving carriers with closed claims blocks that will be paid out over 30 to 40 years and have huge liabilities associated with them. At the end of 2012, 45 percent of covered lives and approximately 37 percent of premium dollars in the industry were held in closed blocks. Because company resources may be redirected to more viable and growing product lines within a company, closed blocks often have more limited resources to devote to claims adjudication, customer service, system enhancements and compliance. A closed block is also more likely to be comprised of a complex mixture of policy generations with wide variations in contract language - making it more difficult to administer adequately and reliably, especially with respect to benefit eligibility, provider eligibility and claims and care management.
Maintaining profitability, mitigating avoidable losses, and complying with regulatory requirements are major concerns for all carriers, but especially for those with closed blocks. This is even more apparent as it has become difficult to obtain rate increases even if a carrier can show a need for the increase based on claims experience.
This is where best practices in claims management can make a significant difference to the performance of a closed block. Critical practices include accurate benefit eligibility decisions, managing the plan of care, accurately assessing for cognition, staying engaged with claimants and families to monitor and encourage recovery, providing meaningful and appropriate care management, and conducting periodic claim audits to compare actual protocols to best practices.
The article demonstrates the importance of carriers continuing to invest in claim practices, personnel, systems and compliance efforts to ensure that their closed LTC insurance blocks are performing as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Authors of this report include Univita's
((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected]))
Copyright: | (c) 2014 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |
Wordcount: | 537 |
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News