California Task Force Plows Ahead With Long-Term Care Insurance Effort

The law created by the bill requires the department to "explore the feasibility of developing and implementing a culturally competent statewide insurance program for long-term care services and supports," according to a department of the task force mission.

The 13-member task force includes Jamala Arland, a vice president at Genworth, which is a major LTCI issuer, and Parag Shah, a senior product design actuary at Pacific Life.

The California Long Term Care Insurance Task Force

Task force members have been discussing the possibility of creating a program that would provide $3,000 to $6,000 per month in LTCI benefits for eligible participants for a period of up to two years.

Participants would likely to have to pay premiums during a vesting period to qualify to receive LTCI benefits.

Task force members are still making many decisions about matters such as how long the vesting period might last, whether vested enrollees could file claims if they needed long-term care before age 65 and whether vested enrollees could use their benefits for care outside California.

The Washington State Shadow

Washington state tried to create a program that would use a 0.58% payroll tax to provide up to $36,500 in long-term care benefits for enrolled workers.

Workers could opt out of the program by getting private LTCI coverage.

Because of the way the opt-out rules were set up, workers who objected to the idea of paying the payroll tax rushed to get private coverage.

LTCI issuers believed that the new applicants would likely drop their coverage at the first opportunity. All significant issuers suspended sales in Washington state, at least temporarily, and the state's LTCI is just starting to recover.

The state ended up delaying the start of the contribution pay-in period until at least mid-2023.

Pictured: San Diego (Photo: Shutterstock)