PRESS RELEASES AND MEDIA COVERAGE
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Nation’s Leading Expert Darras warns against purchasing a supplemental policy from Conseco. In 2008 alone, Conseco was investigated, charged and fined $32 million for not handling long-term care claims in a timely manner, not maintaining or properly documenting claims files and taking too long to respond to claimants. See www.darrasnews.com. In August, 2008, without any warning to its policyholders, Conseco moved nearly 171,000 long-term care premium paying senior citizens into a self-insured senior trust that will diminish and lose its value as more and more elderly go on claim, says Darras. See www.savemyltc.com. “Conseco had for years, underpriced and oversold their long-term care product. When long-term care started losing money, Conseco decided to use a legal loophole in Pennsylvania insurance law and dump faithful policyholders into this trust. The way it has been structured sets up seniors, on fixed incomes to pay multiple premium increases they cannot afford. Many seniors will be forced to lapse their policies after spending tens of thousands of dollars for this supplemental insurance,” says Darras. Sadly, the company’s mission, stated on the website, has not been consistent with their treatment of policyholders. Conseco’s mission says, “to be a leading provider of financial security for life, health and retirement needs of middle market Americans.” America’s senior citizens have been duped and dumped by a company whose new catch phrase is “step up”, says Darras “In many cases, supplemental insurance is a good bet and can be affordable for many families,” says Darras. “I always advise folks to make sound decisions and to research the history and financial health of a company before purchasing insurance. Why spend your hard earned premium dollars on a company that has failed to “step up” when it mattered most?” For information on the Conseco Trust visit www.savemyltc.com or www.darrasnews.com or call 800-458-4577. Conseco Trust May Significantly Alter The Senior Health Care Market Senior health insurance is sold as Long-Term Care. It has been sold and marketed to our grandparents with a rich promise of independent living. Nursing home care, assisted living and in-home coverage was the bait. Many of our parents and grandparents believed the promise and have shelled out huge premiums, for a lot of years. Unfortunately, big insurance failed to honor what they sold and seniors across Conseco is dumping over 144,000 policyholders into a self-destructing trust through the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance. Penn Treaty is hanging on but fighting with it’s re-insurer. See www.savemyltc.com. “Boomers beware, this is just the beginning,” says Darras. “If the Conseco Trust succeeds, the template for other insurers to dump their poorly performing Long-Term Care blocks will be set in stone.” Boomers are beginning to understand the carriers’ promise of peace of mind and security is bankrupt. If companies don’t deliver on their promise to today’s seniors, why would anyone believe they will deliver in 10-20 years, asks Darras. “Don’t get me wrong, there are still good companies making honest promises and delivering the benefits. New York Life has never raised premiums and does a wonderful job fairly evaluating claims. Unum has done a nice job on both the individual and the group side of good faith claim handling on Long-Term Care,” says Darras. The Conseco situation demonstrates how many Long-Term Care carriers low-balled the market. After overselling and under-pricing LTC, they cannot be surprised they are losing their claim shirts, says Darras. “Conseco should be held accountable to its many senior policyholders. After all, what did they do wrong? These people believed the promise and paid their premiums on time, every time,” says Darras. “All we want as policyholders is our benefits if we deserve them. None of us can finance disaster, that’s why we buy insurance. Shop wisely and remember to hold your insurer accountable,” says Darras. Our seniors cannot afford to pay ever increasing premiums on a fixed income, only to be denied their benefits when they need them the most, says Darras. If you are wrongfully denied your benefits get help. Understand what you bought, how your policy works so you can get paid what you deserve. Mad About The $700 Billion Bailout?
Warns Against Purchasing Supplemental Insurance From Conseco
Ontario, Calif., February 23, 2009 – Less than 90 days after abandoning America’s elderly, Conseco Insurance is out with a “white paper” encouraging people to buy supplemental insurance policies, says Frank N. Darras, the nation’s leading disability and long-term care insurance lawyer.
In addition, when the 40-state settlement with Conseco was reached with the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance, acting Commissioner, Joel Ario, stated the action was “necessary due to a pattern of consumer harm in the company's long-term care insurance business”, says Darras.
Stop
Stop the Conseco Trust Today
ONTARIO, Calif., - September 29, 2008 – If you are sick and tired of taking the financial hit for bad business decisions of publicly traded companies, stand up and be counted today. The proposed Conseco Senior Health Insurance Trust, may come into effect immediately after the deadline of September 30th –tomorrow and it could devastate 144,000 senior citizens, says Frank N. Darras, the nation’s leading disability and Long-Term Care insurance lawyer.
“If you have just one insurance policy, of any type: auto, life, disability, mortgage, long-term care, you should call/email today and say NO. If this Conseco Trust goes through, it may set a precedent that could decimate your coverage when you need it most,” says Frank N. Darras, the nation’s leading disability and Long-Term Care insurance lawyer.
Unbelievably not one Conseco policyholder was warned advised or received written notice of the impending Trust from the company. An unannounced deadline of September 30, 2008 looms, while seniors have had no chance to voice their opinions. Why should these policyholders wind up in a Senior Health Insurance Trust when they were insured by Conseco? If these seniors wanted to self insure themselves they never would have relied on Conseco. See www.savemyltc.com.
Take 2 minutes out of your day and call the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. Stand up for our seniors today. We cannot let a dangerous precedent be set.
Make your voice heard. For detailed information, see www.savemyltc.com and say no to the Trust. Call 717-787-2317 or toll free 877-881-6388 and/or fax (717) 787-8557 or email rbrackbill@state.pa.us. Make a firm statement that you PROTEST the Conseco Trust and demand the Department of Insurance say NO to Conseco.
“We are fighting for our grandparents and parents. We are fighting now, for ourselves and our children,” says Darras. “If Conseco establishes this Trust, policyholders will lose the peace of mind and security they richly paid for.”
Call, fax or write the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance today. The youngest victim in the proposed Trust is about 77 years old.
“Let’s stand up and protect your grandparents and mine,” says Darras.
Go to www.savemyltc.com or call 800-458-4577 and follow the directions to get your voice heard by the Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner. Demand they STOP the Trust. Time is of the essence, the written deadline is Sept 30, 2008.
Top Insurance Expert Calls on 144,000 Holders of Long-Term Care Polices To Protest an Eleventh Hour Conseco Trust
ONTARIO, Frank N. Darras has urged 144,000 holders of these Long-Term Care insurance policies to protest immediately the creation of this Trust. See www.savemyltc.com.
“Without any notice or warning to these faithful, premium paying seniors, Conseco has proposed creating a new Senior Health Insurance Trust to uncouple a hemorrhaging block of business it purchased from American Travelers and Transport Life in the mid-1990’s,” says Darras. “The end of the comment period to the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance is September 30, 2008.”
According to Darras, Conseco has a history of treating it’s long-term care policyholders badly. Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department found Conseco had violated insurance claims handling practices and fined the company $32.3 Million. Acting Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario, defined the bulk of the fine as “restitution to consumers who were harmed”.
Now, however, the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance appears to be working with Conseco to approve this Trust. The timeline started in an August 11 Conseco conference call and the deadline for commentary “Conseco wanted to be the industry leader in Long-Term Care. Now its time for the company to honor what it sold. It looks as if the company is attempting to spin off an eleventh hour Trust, without notifying the very policyholders that will be affected and that is wrong,” says Darras.
Conseco policyholders and all LTC policyholders are urged to write or fax the Pennsylvania Insurance Department to weigh in on this very important Trust, according to Darras.
Contact Frank N. Darras directly at www.savemyltc.com or call 800-458-4577, visit www.darrasnews.com or email at info@savemyltc.com. Note to Editors: Darras available for interviews. Contact Robin Nolan 800-880-9991 robin@mcdavidpr.com.
With The Economy and Financial Giants Failing, What Happens to Conseco’s 144,000 Long-term Care Policyholders? Frank N. Darras To Discuss the Proposed Trust
is September 30th. “What’s the rush,” asks Darras.
On Voice
September 23rd
ONTARIO,
According to Darras, the deadline of September 30 is fast approaching and policyholders need to know they may lose it all. “It is time to stand up and be counted” says Darras. “No one has alerted, contacted or warned my seniors. They have a right to weigh in and be heard.” See www.savemyltc.com.
At our web site and at this link, http://www.ins.state.pa.us/ins/lib/ins/conseco/037.pdf, shareholders and policyholders can review recent and important communications regarding this Trust. Here, the Pennsylvania Governor's Office of General Counsel states, “There is no provision in the Insurance Holding Companies Act which requires that each policyholder be notified individually. To the contrary, policyholder participation is sought by way of public notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, the Commonwealth's official publication for information and rulemaking.”
“That is a recipe for disaster,” says Darras. “How in the world are these affected policyholders ever going to know they are being shuffled off to an eleventh hour Trust if they aren’t told?” Tune in to listen to the radio live, at 1PM Eastern (10 AM PST) to find out what you need to know to protect yourself, your investment and to take action to prevent this precedent setting potential disaster.
Link directly to: http://www.voiceamerica.com/tomwoodruff.html
Contact Frank N. Darras directly at www.savemyltc.com or call 800-458-4577, visit www.darrasnews.com or email at info@savemyltc.com.
#### Site Provides Information to Help Conseco Long-Term Care Policyholders Fight the Proposed Trust
ONTARIO, As the nation’s leading disability and LTC insurance lawyer, Frank N. Darras has put information together that will assist over 142,000 policyholders who have not been notified by Conseco that their policies are going to be put into an irrevocable trust that may cost them dearly. In Darras’ opinion, not only are more than 142,000 policyholders in a dangerous position of losing it all, when they need it most, this Trust will set a terrible precedent for other failing Long-Term Care companies across the country.
"We have to protect our seniors, your parents and mine, from egregious acts by companies that made bad investment decisions and low-balled the marketplace with oversold and poorly underwritten policies,” says Darras. “Last week, Americans took on financial burdens of failing companies and now, Conseco’s Long-Term Care Trust scenario could very well burden those people that need the product most, the elderly.”
The youngest policyholders in this block are approximately 77 years old. For years, the LTC arm of Conseco has been a financial drain. “It looks to me,” says Darras, “that the Company is absolving themselves of a losing bet and giving it to their policyholders and calling it a Trust. That is just wrong, there is nothing to trust about this scenario, it will ruin our seniors.”
If you need help with any matter regarding CSHI and your Long-Term Care insurance policy, please call Frank N. Darras at 800-458-4577 or email him at help@savemyltc.com. ACT FAST!
Note to editors: Darras available for interviews. Contact Robin Nolan, McDavid Public Relations, 650-279-9512, robin@mcdavidpr.com.
Pennsylvania may not have a provision that requires notice to the policyholders but common sense and fairness to the elderly who have paid richly for this coverage should carry the day. What is the big rush? These seniors have been paying their premiums for years and have held up their end of the bargain. Why not let the policyholders ask their questions, pose their inquiries with the transparency they have been promised?
Insurance Expert Launches www.savemyltc.com Web Site
“With a spoken deadline of Monday, September 22, and a written deadline of September 30th, policyholders must move quickly,” says Darras. “Our web site has a form letter that policyholders can fill out, print and fax, or copy and paste into an email that goes directly to the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance.”
All contact information and instructions can be found at www.savemyltc.com.
Go to www.savemyltc.com and fill out the forms, voice your opinions to Robert Brackbill, rbrackbill@state.pa.us or fax to (717) 787-8557 immediately.