A recent article in the New York Times examines the extensive problems that many elderly policyholders are having with long-term-care insurance providers who are not delivering on their promises. Policyholders who made their payments in good faith now find themselves facing claims denials and lengthy runarounds that delay processing of claims to the point that policyholders either give up or die.
Mary Beth Senkewicz, a recently resigned senior executive at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, stated that “The bottom line is that insurance companies make money when they don’t pay claims. They’ll do anything to avoid paying, because if they wait long enough, they know the policyholders will die.” The three insurers receiving the largest number of complaints are Conseco, Bankers Life (an affiliate of Conseco) and Penn Treaty. Statements in depositions and interviews by former employees of Conseco, Bankers Life and Penn Treaty illustrate business practices that denied or delayed claims for reasons that seemed trivial.
Read the New York Times article.