Demographic and administrative concerns are some of the factors that scare insurers away from bidding on the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program contract, according to officials at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The GAO reviewed the federal long term care (LTC) program at the request of members of Congress who have concerns about the program, which started up in 2002.

The program offers LTC insurance to federal workers and their relatives on a voluntary, employee-paid basis. Active workers and spouses who apply during open enrollment face little underwriting; other applicants face underwriting similar to what they would face in the individual market, John Dicken, a GAO director, writes in a report summarizing the GAO's findings.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Allison Bell

Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.