NAIFA Trustee Connie Golleher and Senior Vice President for Government Relations Diane Boyle represented insurance professionals at a public meeting of the Federal Interagency Task Force on Long-Term Care Insurance today.

Consumers would benefit from more options in the LTCI market, Golleher and Boyle told the task force, as well as from public policies that would encourage people to purchase LTCI. NAIFA supports legislation to allow workers to buy LTCI with contributions to their employer-sponsored “cafeteria plans” or flexible spending accounts. Tax incentives to encourage the purchase of LTCI would also be effective.

Expanding the reach and accessibility of long-term care to better protect and serve consumers is a NAIFA goal.

NAIFA established the Limited & Extended Care Planning Center, with the help of more than a dozen founding partners, to maximize professional and consumer awareness and improve the distribution of limited and extended care solutions. Through thought leadership, events, educational resources, research, networking and advocacy, the LECP Center leverages technology to increase conversations, build trusted relationships and expand distribution year-round while raising consumer awareness.

NAIFA is the only group representing insurance agents and advisors to participate in today's federal task force meeting. The purpose of the task force, according to a 2017 Treasury report, is to propose federal policies to work alongside state-level reforms to “stabilize and potentially regrow the private long-term care insurance market” and to address the costs of providing long-term care.

The task force, convened by the Treasury Department, includes representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Internal Revenue Service, the Office and Management and Budget, and the Department of Labor, as well as Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy and the Federal Insurance Office.