Long-term Care Insurance Policy Dropping in the U.S. from 1996 to 2000: Evidence and Implications for Long-term Care Financing

Authors: Paul E. McNamara¹; Nayoung Lee¹

Source: The Geneva Papers, Volume 29, Number 4, October 2004 , pp. 640-651(12)

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

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Abstract:

While the market for private long-term care insurance in the U.S. has grown dramatically, consumer advocates have argued for increased regulatory attention and for broadened consumer education programs concerning long-term care insurance. We analyse Health and Retirement Survey data from 1996, 1998, and 2000 using a zero-inflated negative binomial regression model of the counts of consecutive periods of long-term care insurance coverage. We find that while a significant proportion of Americans over the age of 50 purchase long-term care insurance, many of these purchasers drop their coverage within a five-year period. This finding raises questions for long-term care insurance researchers and it contains implications for market regulators, public policy makers interested in financing long-term care, as well as for insurance companies and consumer advocates.

Document Type: Original article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0440.2004.00307.x

Affiliations: 1: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Urbana, Illinois, US

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