In 1995, in an effort to provide more information about the long-term care insurance market, the Division released "A Report on Long-Term Care Insurance: The Results of a 1994 Survey" ("1994 Survey"). To further assess changes in the marketplace, the Division issued a follow-up survey in February 1997 for the period January 1994 through December 1996. Information obtained through these survey reports was used by the Task Force on the Financing of Long-Term Care established by then-Governor William Weld and then-Attorney General Scott Harshbarger in developing the Division's long-term care insurance regulation in 1999.
After the revised regulations had been in effect for over two years and as a follow-up to the 1994 and 1996 survey reports, the Division issued a new long-term care insurance survey in January 2002 to collect information for the period between January 1997 and December 2001. The survey collected information about the Massachusetts market before and after the long-term care insurance regulatory changes that became effective January 1, 2000. As a follow-up to that survey, the Division issued a survey in March 2005 to collect information for the period January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2004. This report summarizes the results of the 2005 survey.
As with the 1994, 1996, and 2002 surveys, the 2005 survey was designed to distinguish between the experience of individual plans and those plans marketed through employers, unions, group associations, and group trusts. Under M.G.L. c. 175 §108, the Division has limited authority to review individual long-term care insurance plans and approves them for offer in Massachusetts if they meet the standards of 211 CMR 65.001 1- Massachusetts's long-term care insurance regulation. There is no current statutory authority to review or approve group long-term care insurance plans.
Survey Results
1 The Division's long-term care regulation - 211 CMR 65.00 - includes many consumer disclosure provisions that are consistent with what has been adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners ("NAIC") in its long term care insurance model regulation. Many other items in the NAIC long-term care insurance regulation, most notably sections pertaining to rate review, are not included in 211 CMR 65.00 because the statutory authority identified in the NAIC model act is not included in Massachusetts General Law.