Pulse Survey Reveals Long-Term Care Coverage Declining as Insurers Dropout

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newsHealthcare benefits packages are less and less likely to contain employer-provided long-term disability coverage, reports HighRoads’ Long-Term Care Benefits Program Pulse Survey. The compliance and benefits management company reported that only slightly over half of employers (51 percent) continue to provide long-term care coverage (LTC). Half of those no longer offering the benefit stated that they dropped the coverage due to their LTC coverage provider leaving the marketplace. Nearly all of those companies who reported that they provide LTC (96 percent) also say that they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Other findings discovered by the survey were that about 40 percent of those companies not currently offering LTC coverage plan on doing so in the future but on a voluntary basis. The survey also found that over 90 percent of companies providing LTC benefits offer it as an additional benefit, while the rest offer it as either part of their healthcare strategy or due to a union contract requirement. The vast majority of employers offering LTC coverage (71 percent) do so on a group basis. Less than one-third offer it on a voluntary, individual basis.

Michael Byers, CEO of HighRoads commented on the survey results saying, “HighRoads’ survey indicates that long-term care coverage is continuing to be an endangered item for employees. The country has a growing number of retirees — many of whom will need some type of long-term medical care services in the future. It is a serious issue when insurers no longer are willing to provide this as part of an employee’s health benefits plan.”

By Marie Larsen