NEWS RELEASE

Committee on Energy and Commerce
Rep. John D. Dingell, Chairman

Committee Launches Investigation into
Long Term Care Insurance

Washington, DC - Members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce today launched an investigation into allegations of unfair and deceptive business practices by companies that underwrite and sell long-term nursing home and home health care insurance. Reps. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee, and Bart Stupak (D-MI), Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, wrote letters to two of the top long-term care insurance carriers, Conseco, Inc. and Penn Treaty American Corp., to request documents relating to their claims handling policies and practices.

Data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners indicate that an unusually high number of policyholders in need of long-term care in nursing home facilities or at home have complained of improper denials of valid claims.

“People who invest in long-term care policies and pay their premiums faithfully should be able to rely on those policies when the need arises,” said Dingell. “As Congress considers ways to preserve the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund and the long-term viability of the Medicaid program, we must ensure that people get what they pay for when they purchase long-term care coverage and are not forced to use publicly-financed programs.”

“Long-term care insurance enables us to plan for the possibility of extended periods of disability for ourselves and our loved ones,” said Stupak. “Our investigation will focus on the practices and protocols that some of the larger long-term care insurers use for handling claims and examine the effect of improper claims denials on the Medicaid and Medicare programs.”

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Read the letters from Dingell and Stupak to Conseco, Inc. and
Penn Treaty American Corp.