Delaware Governor John Markell has signed a bill that will increase the amount of protection that the Delaware Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association can offer consumers affected by carrier insolvencies.
The new law created by H.B. 202 will increase the coverage limit for long-term care insurance to $300,000, from the current level of $100,000.
The protection level for fixed annuity contracts increases to $250,000, from $100,000. In addition, some government retirement benefit plans are increased to $250,000, from $100,000.
All states offer some form of guarantee explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance http://www.aaltci.org. The cost of the protection is borne by the insurance companies that operate within each respective state. Unlike banks which pay a fee to the FDIC, fees are assessed only when an insurer becomes insolvent.
The sponsors of H.B. 202 were Rep. Bryon Short, D-Highland Woods, Del., and Sen. Harris McDowell, D-Wilmington North, Del.
Delaware has at least 165 residents who have faced potential loss of coverage because of pending insurer liquidation proceedings, according to Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart. “I want to thank both the General Assembly for promptly passing H.B. 202 at the beginning of the 2010 session and the governor for quickly signing the bill into law,” Stewart says in a statement.
