LTC Program Is Largest of Its Type

The Federal Long Term Care Insurance program, with about 200,000 enrollees since being launched two years ago, is the largest employer-sponsored LTC insurance program in the country and constitutes about 15 percent of those covered by such plans in the country, the House civil service subcommittee recently was told. About two-thirds of the FLTCIP program’s enrollees are active employees and their spouses and the rest are retirees, their spouses and other eligible family members. Paul E. Forte, CEO of LTC Partners, the consortium that provides the coverage under contract with the Office of Personnel Management, said that most enrollees have elected comprehensive coverage, which covers all levels of home health care as well as facility-based care-instead of electing only facility-based care–that the most popular daily benefit amount is $100 per day-benefits can be up to $300 a day–about half choose a three-year benefit period-five-year and lifetime coverage are the other options-that most choose a 90-day waiting period rather than a 30-day only period, and two-thirds chose automatic inflation protection instead of “future purchase option” inflation protection. The average premium per enrollee is about $1300 annually.