A blog at the apex of the long-term care insurance industry
In this hectic year, insurers shouldn’t lose track of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ standards for data security. Which states have adopted the NAIC Model Law, and what approach has each state taken? Insurers should give careful consideration to the complex differences from state to state when it comes to data protection and reporting cybersecurity events.
Continue reading “Catching up on the NAIC Data Security Model Law, Part 2”
Companies are searching for solutions to the increasing demand for next-generation elder care solutions. As chronic conditions like Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia increase in the elder population, the necessity for in-home care rises. Insurers finding new ways to meet these needs face hurdles in state regulations on insurance rebating and the tax qualified status of wellness policies. The insurance community is keeping a close eye on potential overhaul of anti-rebating provisions and support for programs intended to allow those in need of long-term care to remain at home.
Continue reading “The Future of Wellness Programs Offered by Long-Term Care Insurers”
On June 30, the NAIC’s Artificial Intelligence Working Group approved principles that call on insurers and others using AI to take proactive steps to avoid proxy discrimination against protected classes. While the principles will not have the effect of law, they are expected to serve as a road map for future regulatory workstreams.
Continue reading “NAIC’s Artificial Intelligence Working Group Adopts Principles for AI”
Florida has enacted House Bill 1189, which prohibits life and long-term care insurers from canceling, limiting, or denying coverage or adjusting premium rates based on genetic information.
As we previously reported, the bill amends Florida Statute 627.4301, which currently prohibits health insurers’ use of genetic information for insurance purposes. As amended, the statute removes former carve-outs for life, disability, and long-term care insurers, but certain carve-outs remain, such as those for accident-only policies, hospital indemnity or fixed indemnity policies, dental policies, and vision policies.
Concerns over the use of credit history in the insurance industry have been on regulators’ radar for some time, and economic uncertainty and increasingly widespread calls to address income inequality and systemic racial discrimination have made the issue all the more timely. Amid this backdrop, Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has asked the state legislature to introduce legislation to amend current law in order to discontinue the use of credit-based insurance scores, which he calls unfair and discriminatory.
Continue reading “Regulators Continue to Voice Concerns on Credit Scores”
A relatively consistent flow of premium rate increase litigation has been filed against long-term care (LTC) carriers over the past several years. Following the plaintiffs’ bar having early success in a limited number of LTC rate increase class actions in the early 2000s, the tide turned definitively in favor of carriers in what we think of as the first generation of such litigation, where the plaintiffs’ bar focused primarily on an alleged duty to disclose possible rate increases and challenging the language of the contract itself. Despite the industry’s overall success, premium rate increase litigation has attracted an increased level of sophistication from the plaintiffs’ bar, which shifted to more creative theories based on extra-contractual representations (e.g., marketing materials) in what we view as the second generation of premium rate increase litigation. While the industry remains mostly successful in warding off rate increase litigation, a new trend may be developing as recent cases focus on more nuanced contractual limitations and rate increase implementation issues.
Continue reading “Recent Developments in LTC Rate Increase Litigation”
Assured Allies and Faegre Drinker have partnered to develop a playbook for the long-term care insurance industry. Responding and Managing the Impact of COVID-19 offers insights, guidance and ideas to manage the short- and medium-term impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic and provides potential avenues for long-term care insurers to explore in the post-COVID-19 world that could change long-term care insurance forever.
In October 2017, the NAIC adopted its Insurance Data Security Model Law and released it to the states for legislative consideration. The purpose of the Model is to “establish standards for data security and standards for the investigation and notification to the Commissioner of a Cybersecurity Event applicable to Licensees.” In this alert, we briefly outline the requirements of the Model and provide an update on the status of the Model among the states and information on compliance effective dates. We will continue to monitor these issues.
Continue reading “Catching up on the NAIC Data Security Model Law”