Errors In Long Term Care Letters
71,600 federal employees enrolled in the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program will be receiving letters from Long Term Care Partners, their insurance provider, that contain errors in their benefits calculations. The company, at the request of the Office of Personnel Management, will be sending out letters informing those 71,600 enrollees that they've made mistakes, and in December, will send them personalized letters with the correct information in the Benefit Amount" section. In the interim, enrollees can call Long Term Care Partners at 1-800-582-3337, and OPM is extending the deadline for making enrollment switches to March 15, 2010, for those employees.
It's the second time OPM has had to extend the enrollment deadline for participants in FLTCIP this year. They already pushed back the deadline for plan participants until February 15, 2010, after some enrollees found themselves facing rate hikes they say they'd been promised wouldn't happen. And it's clear that OPM leaders aren't happy.
"Getting accurate, easy to understand information to our enrollees in a timely manner is my top priority," OPM Director John Berry said in a statement released by the agency on Thursday night. "All companies participating in this program must take steps to ensure that similar errors are avoided in the future."
The full OPM press release appears after the jump.
OPM and Long Term Care Partners Work to Correct Letters to Enrollees
Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has been notified by Long Term Care Partners (a wholly owned subsidiary of John Hancock Life & Health Insurance Co.) that letters the company mailed to tens of thousands of enrollees in the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) contain errors in calculating potential premiums.
This came at a time when these policy holders were already awaiting letters explaining important changes to their policy so they could make decisions about whether to accept reduced benefits or a premium increase.
OPM, in its oversight role, administers the FLTCIP and has asked Long Term Care Partners to immediately resolve and correct the misinformation.
Responding to OPM's request, Long Term Care Partners reports they will begin mailing notices to the approximately 71,600 affected individuals, alerting them to the errors about the premiums shown in the "Benefit Amount" section of their election letters. The company also reports that in December, they will mail personalized letters providing accurate information to affected enrollees so that they can make an informed decision using correct information.
"Getting accurate, easy to understand information to our enrollees in a timely manner is my top priority," said OPM Director John Berry. "All companies participating in this program must take steps to ensure that similar errors are avoided in the future."
Due to the error, Long Term Care Partners is extending the decision period for those who received an erroneous letter to March 15, 2010, giving enrollees sufficient time to review their options.
Enrollees with questions are encouraged to call Long Term Care Partners at 1-800-582-3337.
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I narrowly dodged this financial bullet. I almost purchased a long term care policy with the inflation locked rates that were promised. I thought that the rates would be locked in lower, the earlier I signed up. Now we find that it was all a lie. The rates are NOT locked in and the entire contract is renegotiated every 7 years. I feel sorry for those that believed OPMs lies about this program. There was a lot of hype and hupla when it first came out and there was pressure to buy the more expensive inflation locked policies. What a shameful thing that the OPM did and is doing. They have proven that they are not to be trusted. I wonder if there is class action recourse available for those that were suckered? This was fraud, in my opinion.
Radar Tech Posted Friday, November 13, 2009 10:53 AMThis is berry 15th "top priority" since taking over the first 14 are still waiting for action
dan m ketter Posted Friday, November 13, 2009 12:06 PMThe long term care only applys to a few thousand federal employees and even on that small scale, the contract was in error. Or rather OPM is not holding the contractor accountable for their original figures. Now we want a similar group to handle medical care for the whole country? With a track record like this, everyone should hold tight to their wallets.
Dennis4809 Posted Tuesday, November 17, 2009 9:49 AMI wonder how many people have long term care insurance acroos the United States. This health reform in Congress is really making me aware of how little is done for this problem. Long term care insurance may be worth it.
Carroll B. Merriman Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 4:46 PMThe long term care partners rate increase is a swindle. I blame NARFE as much as anyone. They should have investigated and warned us. I was a member of NARFE. No more money for those jerks. They should be doing a class action suit on our behalf. Keep me in the loop about this. I tried suing myself, but could not find a law firm to do it.
John King Posted Friday, April 30, 2010 4:11 PM