Introduced Version
SENATE RESOLUTION No. ___
DIGEST OF INTRODUCED RESOLUTION
A SENATE RESOLUTION urging the legislative council to
assign the topic of long-term care insurance to the appropriate
study committee.
QADDOURA
, re ad first time and referred to Committee on
2021 DR 3868/DI AM
 Introduced
First Regular Session 122nd General Assembly (2021)
SENATE RESOLUTION ____
MADAM PRESIDENT:
I offer the following resolution and move its adoption:
1 A SENATE RESOLUTION urging the legislative council
2 to assign the topic of long-term care insurance to the
3 appropriate study committee.
4 Whereas, Long-term care refers to a wide range of services
5 and supports designed to help individuals who are unable to
6 care for themselves because of a prolonged illness, disability,
7 frailty, or mental deterioration;
8 Whereas, Over 40% of Americans receiving long-term care
9 are between the ages of 18 and 64, and approximately 70% of
10 Americans over the age of 65 will need some level of long-term
11 care services in their lifetime;
12 Whereas, 20% of those in need of long-term care will need
13 it for more than five years;
14 Whereas, 40% of long-term care patients need care in a
15 nursing home, and the average length of stay in a nursing home
16 is 2.6 years;
17 Whereas, According to the Indiana Department of
18 Insurance, the average cost of nursing home care in Indiana is
2021 DR 3868/DI AM
 2
1 more than $70,000 a year and assisted living facility care costs
2 an average of $40,000 a year;
3 Whereas, The annual price of five home health aide visits
4 a week, providing care for five hours each day, costs on
5 average $30,000, and the cost of long-term care has been rising
6 approximately 5% each year;
7 Whereas, Independent analysis demonstrates that on most
8 metrics, Indiana ranks in the bottom half of states for high costs
9 of long-term care for the fiscal year 2020;
10 Whereas, Long-term care insurance helps cover in-home
11 care, community-based care such as adult day care, assisted
12 living facility care, and nursing home care, usually paying the
13 actual charges for the care up to a daily or monthly maximum
14 dollar amount;
15 Whereas, The Indiana Department of Insurance advises
16 Hoosiers that being insured for long-term care protects their
17 assets, including retirement funds, from the expensive
18 out-of-pocket costs of long-term care and that long-term care
19 insurance also provides the peace of mind that in the event they
20 need long-term care, their family will not have to front these
21 costs or become their full-time care givers;
22 Whereas, Long-term care insurance can be difficult to
23 access for those who have little or no assets, are disabled,
24 and/or have serious pre-existing conditions;
25 Whereas, Hoosiers of working age have been encouraged
26 to purchase long-term care insurance from private insurers to
27 help defray the costs of long-term care to themselves and their
28 families in the probable case such care is eventually needed;
29 Whereas, Many private insurers have discontinued offering
30 long-term care policies because they have determined them to
31 be insufficiently profitable, and yet continue to raise rates to
2021 DR 3868/DI AM
 3
1 Hoosiers who purchased such policies when they were
2 available;
3 Whereas, A Hoosier with a long-term care insurance policy
4 today would find the cost of changing their policy to one with
5 less expensive premiums prohibitive, as insurers assess older
6 Hoosiers to be more expensive to insure;
7 Whereas, Many of these policies have provisions which
8 stipulate that dropping the policy results in the forfeiture of all
9 monies paid until premiums have been raised more than
10 100-130% of the original cost of the plan, regardless of the
11 amount of time one has held the policy or the amount one has
12 paid into it;
13 Whereas, All of the aforementioned facts demonstrate that
14 many Hoosiers are trapped with long-term care policies they
15 find to be both insufficient to their circumstances and
16 exorbitantly expensive;
17 Whereas, It is in the interest of the State of Indiana that
18 Hoosiers have access to long-term care and long-term care
19 insurance, and Hoosiers should be free to choose the care and
20 insurance that is right for them; and
21 Whereas, Older Hoosiers who purchased long-term care
22 insurance earlier in their lives are being left behind by current
23 state policies regarding long-term care insurance, as they are
24 effectively faced with the choice of either accepting continually
25 increasing premiums, forfeiting tens of thousands of dollars to
26 one insurer in order to procure a much more expensive policy
27 from another, or else becoming uninsured, and thus tasked with
28 the high likelihood of facing the very high out-of-pocket costs
29 of long-term care on their own: Therefore,
30 Be it resolved by the Senate of the
31 General Assembly of the State of Indiana:
2021 DR 3868/DI AM
 4
1 SECTION 1. That the Indiana Senate urges the legislative
2 council to assign to an appropriate interim study committee the
3 topic of examining deficiencies in our state’s long-term care
4 insurance system.
2021 DR 3868/DI AM