Ind. Conseco Complying with Congressional Request for Records

Ind.-based Conseco Inc. said this week that it is complying with a congressional request for records related to its long-term care health insurance business amid an investigation into the possibility that policyholders might have been unfairly denied claims.

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on May 23 began an investigation into allegations of unfair and deceptive business practices by insurers selling long-term nursing home and home health care insurance.

Reps. John D. Dingell, the committee chairman, and Bart Stupak, who chairs its Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, wrote Conseco to request documents including complaints, grievances, appeals, lawsuits and records of state insurance agency hearings on such policies since Sept. 10, 2003, when Conseco was emerging from bankruptcy. The letter asked for the documents by June 13.

Conseco, one of the largest underwriters of long-term care insurance, said it would respond promptly to the request.

“We agree that every long-term-care policyholder deserves assurance that their claim will be handled timely and in accordance with the terms of their contract,” the Carmel-based company said in a statement.

“The Conseco insurance companies paid more than $600 million in claims on long term care policies last year. We have fundamentally changed and improved our core business processes, including claims management, since our parent company emerged from bankruptcy in 2003,” the statement added.

The House committee last week issued a news release saying data compiled by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners showed an unusually high number of complaints over denials of claims the last several years.

Dingell and Stupak, both D-Mich., also requested documents from another large carrier of long-term care insurance, Penn Treaty American Corp. of Allentown, Pa.