MEDAMERICA ANNOUNCED the expansion of long term care insurance line with the addition of a group product to its CareDirections Simplicity brand.
Group Simplicity offers companies with 50 or more employees the same benefits as those offered to individual consumers. It provides a cash benefit, giving policyholders the ability to use benefit payments at their discretion. There are no restrictions.
"Traditional long term care insurance products have not been well-received by businesses that perceive long term care insurance to be too complex and confusing for their employees to understand," says Christopher Perna, MedAmerica president and chief operating officer. "With Group Simplicity, we're now able to provide employers of all sizes a simple long term care insurance product anybody can understand."
According to Perna, the dense verbiage of traditional LTCI policies stems from carriers' attempts to specify conditions under which benefits would be paid. The idea across the LTCI industry is to use complicated policy language aimed at insuring that payments are made for "appropriate services."
Perna says the definition of "appropriate" should be left up to customers and their families.
Group Simplicity puts no restrictions on how policyholders use their payments. Simplicity provides a monthly cash benefit to "use as you choose," Perna says.
Once group members are eligible, they can submit one request for payment each month and receive a monthly cash benefit.
"So policyholders can receive care or other services in their own home, or anywhere in the world, from a nurse or from their niece," Perna says. "We like to say we offer cash, not confusion, to our policyholders."
Group Simplicity offers organizations a wide range of advantages over other LTCI products.
- The product's less-complicated contract language makes it easier for employers and employees to understand how the plan will meet their financial and insurance needs.
- Relaxed underwriting and competitive group rates make the product more accessible and more affordable for employees.
The cash benefit eliminates the concern that the types of LTC services will evolve by the time policyholders need care, making a policy they buy today obsolete. It also provides an improved cash flow since the monthly benefit is available on a pre-paid basis, without claim forms and receipts.
