Long-term care: MetLife dropping policies, NFL union rejects management offer

The Wall Street Journal: "MetLife Inc. said it will halt sales of long-term-care insurance, a type of coverage that repeatedly has flummoxed insurers and forced some to pay significantly more in claims than they expected. MetLife is among the bigger sellers of the coverage, with about 600,000 policyholders, or about 8%, among the eight million who have long-term-care insurance in the U.S., according to the company and an industry trade association. MetLife joins a parade of insurers that have exited the business rather than try to fight for customers in the small market" (Holm and Tergesen, 11/12).

Bloomberg Businessweek: Insurers "have been burned by policies sold in the past when they underestimated the number of claims, the cost of care and life expectancies of their clients. ... The cost of assisted living has climbed at an annual rate of 6.7 percent over the past five years and the price for a private room in a nursing home jumped 4.5 percent annually over that span, according to a report in April from Genworth Financial Inc., which also sells the coverage. More than 10 million Americans need long-term medical services and support and that number is projected to rise as the U.S. population ages" (Collins and Doss, 11/11).

Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports: "The players union has rejected a proposal from the NFL on long-term care for former players, saying the supplemental policy would exclude too many of them. Miki Yara-Davis, senior director of benefits for the NFLPA, said Thursday that the union sent a letter to the league Wednesday rebuffing the proposal that was presented during negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. Yara-Davis said too many former players aged 50-75 would not pass a screening by TransAmerica, the insurance company that would underwrite the plan, because those players have pre-existing conditions from playing football. … The NFL said the policy would be available to 2,500 of 3,200 eligible players and their spouses" (11/11).