The state of Iowa is going to be looking more closely at providers of Long Term Care Insurance, a recent article in the Des Moines Register says.  Now more than ever it is important to have strong carriers when getting long term care insurance quotes.  At LTCtree, we prefer to use the largest and most respected insurance companies.  When the object is peace of mind, why not go with a larger carrier for just a little bit more than an unheard of or newer Long Term Care Insurance provider? 

The risks are real, as this article describes:

Long-term care is a relatively new type of insurance product that has continued to evolve since its development. Many of the earlier products sold in the '70s and '80s were limited in scope to payment of benefits for nursing-home care only and did not contemplate the changes in senior living that have expanded to various forms of assisted living.

Consumers did not always understand the plans, and carriers did not always make changes or provide additional benefits to reflect the changing landscape in long-term care. Early policies were not appropriately priced to meet the ever-increasing costs of health care. All of these factors contributed to dozens of consumer complaints being filed with the division by some policyholders in each of several recent years.

Through our review of complaints filed with our office in 2006 concerning long-term-care insurance, we noted a variety of different types of complaints, examples of which could be found in the Register's recent articles, including: large rate increases, slow payment of claims, poor customer service and denial of claims. Many of the complaints resulted from the actions of just a few carriers.