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Insurance industry players disagree about what regulators should call the product now (often) known as "short-term care insurance."
Agents and brokers use the term to refer to products that cover nursing home care, home health care and other forms of non-acute health care for periods of less than 12 months.
Some insurers stick with that product name. Others call the product "recovery care insurance" or "convalescent care insurance."
State insurance regulators at the Senior Issues Task Force have dubbed the product "limited long-term care insurance" in drafts of a model law and a model regulation.
Now five commenters from insurance companies have weighed in on the models — and the insurance company reps all have different ideas about what the product name should be.
The Senior Issues Task Force is part of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a group for state insurance regulators. The task force is preparing to discuss the short-term care insurance model law and model regulation drafts June 7, during a conference call meeting.
NAIC model laws and model regulations have no direct effect on state insurance laws or regulations, but states often start with NAIC models when developing their own laws and regulations.
The Seniors Issue Task Force has already posted the model drafts on its section of the NAIC website, and asked for comments from members of the public. The task force recently prepared for the upcoming conference call by posting a digest of the public comments.
A representative from Reserve National Insurance welcomed use of the name "limited long-term care insurance"
"The stated intention is to establish standards for insurance products offered and marketed as a form of 'long-term care insurance' but for a coverage period of less than one year," the Reserve National rep wrote, according to the comment digest. "The title of 'limited long-term care insurance' would appear consistent with that purpose."
The four other insurance reps said using the name "limited long-term care insurance" could lead to customer and regulator confusion about the nature of the products.
A representative from Guarantee Trust Life said regulators should call the product something like "limited duration long-term care" insurance.
The name "limited long-term care" is unclear, the Guarantee Trust Life rep wrote.
Consumers or others might interpret "limited" in that context to "refer to the type of care, the dollar amounts available for care, or any number of the product's features," the Guarantee Trust Life rep wrote. " The shorter benefit period of this product is one of its most significant differentiators and should be noted in any title referring to it."
A Bankers Life rep suggested that any use of " long-term care" in the product name could fool consumers into believing, mistakenly, that the products qualify for the tax breaks that the federal government provides for some purchasers of long-term care insurance.
