UnumProvident Launches New Group LTC Policy

December 2, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - UnumProvident announced a new customizable group long term care product.

UnumProvident’s new group long term care insurance – Group Long Term Care Advantage – can help preserve assets of employees and their families from the financial effects of illness and injury, the company said in a news release. The new product will be available for purchase in January 2005.

“As the U.S. population ages, this coverage continues to grow in popularity, particularly among today’s workers as they focus on financial planning for retirement,” said   John Noble, director of product and market development for UnumProvident, in a news release. “Group long term care coverage can help employees and their families safeguard the very things they have worked so hard to achieve.”

Group long term care coverage from UnumProvident offers employers with two policy options, the announcement said: indemnity or reimbursement. Indemnity policies can pay a benefit up to a maximum amount specified in the policy, regardless of the actual expenses incurred. Reimbursement policies pay only for the individual’s actual expenses up to a maximum amount specified in the policy.

Other new features of the new group long term care plan include an additional care benefit, which can pay up to $5,000 that can be accessed right away, even during the elimination period; and an international benefit which allows payments to be made anywhere in the world, according to the news release.

In mid-November, Insurance regulators in three states on Thursday announced a sweeping agreement with a trio of disability insurance providers owned by UnumProvident requiring the companies to revamp their claims procedures and review certain claims back to 1997 (See  State, Federal Regulators Crack Down on Insurance Firms  ).

The 47 other states and the District of Columbia joined the three “lead states” in the market conduct examination of the three firms: Unum Life Insurance Company of America, The Paul Revere Life Insurance Company, and Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company.   The US Department of Labor (DoL), which conducted a related investigation of UnumProvident’s practices involving employee benefit plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), is also a party to the settlement agreements.

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