Comments on: CalPERS' Ailing Long-Term Care Plan

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 15:24:32 +0000

In reply to Joyce Burk. I understand your frustration with claim issues Joyce. My parents bought lifetime, comprehensive policies in 1996 and they are 93 and 94 years old now, on a fixed income and have managed to endure all of the rate hikes. Now, after my dad fell and fractured his pelvis, CalPers strung me along from April 2015 to December 2015, sending me notices that they needed information that I had already sent them and that they were unable to approve the claim until they received the info requested. I sent everything again and again and have been paying a 24 hr in home caregiver since April with zero reimbursement. I received a notice in December that they have closed the claim and sent me a statement for premiums retroactive back to April and said if this would cause a financial hardship, we might want to consider a change in benefits to reduce premiums, which I have continuously declined because my folks bought the lifetime policies for a reason, and because they wanted the option to be cared for in their home. This is elder abuse, bad faith and fraud and to receive another offer to opt a benefit reduction before the remainder of the 85% premium increase is auto deducted in 2016 was an insult to my intelligence and makes me nauseous everytime I have to assure my dad that everything is taken care of. If he had the mental capacity to understand any of this, or thought that this plan he bought for he and mom was a scam from the beginning, he wouldn't take another breath. Hang in there. Judgment day is coming.

By: Woeisme

Woeisme — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 21:45:53 +0000

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE class action lawsuit? Supposed to go to jury trial 2/2016.

By: j martin

j martin — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 06:31:34 +0000

Most likely the lawsuit will proceed. The lawyers will get paid first and if there are any remaining funds, the money will be divided amongst the policy holders. I don’t expect that there will be much money left after the lawyers get paid first and in full. Then this leaves all the policy holders without any coverage. With Calpers being sued and having to pay out, there is no more long term care coverage provided by them. Now that we are older, good luck trying to get any other coverage at a reasonable price. The lawsuit is benefitting the lawyers mostly. For some of us, it made sense to pay the increase to be able to keep some sort of LTC coverage. Once the court case is done, we will each get a small payout, we will not have to pay premiums anymore, and we will not have any LTC coverage anymore either. Calpers is not an insurance company. It was a holding tank for our money. We paid in and the claims were paid from this. We are basically suing ourselves and the lawyers profit.

By: Richard Dixon

Richard Dixon — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 19:56:11 +0000

WOW!!!
I have been paying into PERS Long Term Care for 20+ years and getting near to age that I may require some of the services. I wasn’t aware of ALL their problems until today when I ran across this blog. I have kept up with their glossy newsletters but I’m shocked at what I have read here.

Do I stop paying now and look for something better??

Does anyone know of a quality and reasonable alternative to PERS??

Thanks for any info.

By: robert day

robert day — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 23:59:58 +0000

I wrote to the governor,the attorney general and the insurance commissioner about the increase in long term care rates. I have received responses from the AG and the insurance commissioner,both of whom said they can do nothing.This is what I expected so no supprise. They seem to be stating this is a state agency that is not in their jurisdiction. I would differ with their decision on the basis calpers long term care is now trying to bring the general public into the program. Calpers placed a large ad in the Union TRibune san diego paper apparently soliciting the public to sign up for the program. looks like a scheme to sign up new members to keep the game going. this looks like a Ponzi scheme and should be investigated for possible criminal action and no longer protected from the insurance department because the general public is involved. The ad does not say you must be a Government employee to qualify.

By: Mark Karr

Mark Karr — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 06:05:50 +0000

Dealing on behalf of my father-in-law who is in stage four brain and lung cancer. Unfortunately, his significant other was involved in choosing his “IP”, home care giver. This person was contracted at the recommendation of my f-i-law Kaiser – covered hospice care giver. Almost 4 months into the process and CalPers sends a letter denying the home care giver payments. My father-in-law hs been paying the expense out of his pocket the whole time. The home care giver does not have professional liability insurance and the hospice care provider states he is an independent contractor. He is bonded but neither entity has professional liability insurance. Even on the their own website, CalPers does not list this insurance as a requirement for home care givers. What a farce. Months into the process and they are just now issuing this “verdict”. What a farce. My father-in-law is on his death bed and now gets to pay for his own care after so many years of paying into his long term care benefit. This is not the end of this situation. But come, on CalPers. Really. You are trying to deny coverage on something that you don’t show is a requirement? Shame on you

By: anita

anita — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 01:16:47 +0000

In reply to Martha. I am almost in an identical situation. And, just today I called CalPers Long Term Care and told them I am canceling my coverage. They said it had to be in writing. It went in the mail today!

By: pete mailler

pete mailler — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 00:42:32 +0000

In reply to D Cohick.

did you find anyone to represent you? our problem is the checks are issued sporadically – It took a while to notice they skipped a pay period every once and a while – found 3 missing .. so far

anu progress pete

By: Melvin Cowley

Melvin Cowley — Sat, 25 May 2013 08:33:34 +0000

I have been paying for Calpers long term care for several years and recently with my wife’s health failing, I submitted a claim for some benefits because she was put on Hospice on April 1, 2013 and her deductable period then ended according to our policy. She passed away on April 10, 2013. I have been paying a qualified care person $23.00 and hour for her care through Support For Home Care. I got a letter today stating that I will not be reemburst by Calpers Long Term Care even though by their rules, I would qualify. Because of their mismanagement of this company, they don’t even pay the claims to those who have paid many thousands of dollars for expected care. I would like to join in a class action suit against this company.

By: Rosemarie Nelson

Rosemarie Nelson — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:21:50 +0000

I too have been in this system for 20year. I had to drop the coverage effective June 1, 2013. This increase to almost $400 is too expensive for me to continue. I was under the impression when I signed up there would be no increase to my premiums. I feel since this increase is far too much for me to pay we should at least have our premiums we paid returned to us. This cost would represent 20 percent of my PERS retirement check. As a widow on a very tight budget I can not continue this coverage. Now I feel I have been placed in a very horrible position of having to take charity if something should happen to me.