Long Term Care Insurance

Paige

Last week I submitted a post asking about LTD. What about Long Term Care Insurance? What things should we look at when reviewing LTC policies? What's standard? What's high-end? Anything to look out for in contract provisions?

Thanks, again, for your help!
Paige

awilliams

Paige,

I'll send your post to one of the editors of the Benefits and Compensation Law Alert that we publish and let you know what I find out.


Anne Williams
Attorney Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers, LLC

Paige

>I'll send your post to one of the editors of the Benefits and
>Compensation Law Alert that we publish and let you know what I find
>out.

Thanks, Anne!
Much appreciated.
Paige

Scott Ruth

Look for a "comprehensive and integrated" policy. This covers both/either nursing home and home care services up to the policy maximum. Also look for inflation protection provisions to guard against increasing costs. For more info about standard provisions, check out this link:

[url]http://www.hiaa.org/research/research_studies.cfm#longtermcare[/url]

Even though these policies are "group health plans" under the regulations, they cannot be offered under a cafeteria plan -- meaning that employee-paid premiums cannot be pretax. However, if the employer pays the premiums, it is excludable from income by the employee. (Note: There appears to be some ambiguity in the law regarding the duty to withhold taxes from these premiums, even though they are excludable by the employee. You should get specific advice on this point if you set up an employer-paid group policy.)

Finally, I think there may be a substantial savings in selecting a group-type policy as opposed to allowing an insurance company to offer individual polices to your employees.

I hope this helps.

Scott