The federal Office of Personnel Management has published a final version of the regulation that governs the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program.[@@]
The program, created by Congress in 2000, now provides voluntary, employee-paid LTC insurance coverage for about 206,000 federal employees, retirees and dependents, according to the OPM.
The program has been operating under temporary regulations since 2003.
Long Term Care Partners L.L.C., Portsmouth, N.H., a joint venture formed by units of MetLife Inc., New York, and Manulife Financial Corp., Toronto, writes the program coverage.
Several members of the public asked the OPM to limit LTC Partners' ability to reject LTC insurance applicants, according to a discussion of the final regulation that appears today in the Federal Register.
Today, new employees and spouses of new employees go through a light underwriting process when applying for coverage, and other people eligible to apply for coverage go through a more extensive underwriting process.
The OPM has decided to keep the rule that lets the LTC insurer determine applicants' insurability, OPM officials write.
