Long-Term Care Insurance

Proposals to Link Private Insurance and Medicaid Need Close Scrutiny Gao ID: HRD-90-154 September 10, 1990

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on eight proposed state demonstration projects, funded by a foundation's planning grants, using private insurance in conjunction with such public programs as Medicaid to finance long-term health care costs.

GAO found that: (1) the effect of the projects on Medicaid costs was uncertain and would depend on factors such as the participants' income and assets and their subsequent use of long-term care services; (2) whether the projects met their cost goals would depend on whether the states considered all factors that could increase Medicaid costs when making their cost estimates; (3) unanticipated Medicaid costs could occur if states operating the projects failed to adopt adequate regulations and oversight of long-term insurers; (4) to effectively regulate long-term care, states would need to collect and analyze sufficient data to monitor insurers' performance and practices; and (5) states involved in the project should provide adequate consumer education to ensure that consumers understand the risks associated with the policies offered under the projects.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Team: Phone:


The Justia Government Accountability Office site republishes public reports retrieved from the U.S. GAO These reports should not be considered official, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Justia.