Section 77. Initial filing requirements

A. This section shall apply to any long-term care policy form filed with the commission on or after September 1, 2015.

B. An insurer shall provide the information listed in this section to the commission and receive approval of the form prior to making a long-term care insurance form available for sale.

1. A copy of the disclosure documents required in 14VAC5-200-75; and

2. An actuarial certification consisting of at least the following:

a. A statement that the initial premium rate schedule is sufficient to cover anticipated costs under moderately adverse experience and that the premium rate schedule is reasonably expected to be sustainable over the life of the form with no future premium increases anticipated;

b. An explanation for supporting subdivision 2 a of this subsection, including (i) a description of the margin for moderately adverse experience that is included in the premium rates and (ii) a description of the testing of pricing assumptions that was done to support the conclusion that the filed premium rates are sustainable over the life of the form;

c. A statement that the policy design and coverage provided have been reviewed and taken into consideration;

d. A statement that the underwriting and claims adjudication processes have been reviewed and taken into consideration;

e. A statement that the premiums contain at least the minimum margin for moderately adverse experience defined in subdivision 2 e (1) of this subsection or the specification of and justification for a lower margin required by subdivision 2 e (2) of this subsection.

(1) A composite margin shall not be less than 10% of lifetime claims.

(2) A composite margin that is less than 10% may be justified in uncommon circumstances. The proposed amount, full justification of the proposed amount, and methods to monitor developing experience that would be the basis for withdrawal of approval for such lower margins shall be submitted.

(3) A composite margin lower than otherwise considered appropriate for the stand-alone long-term care policy may be justified for long-term care benefits provided through a life policy or an annuity contract. Such lower composite margin, if utilized, shall be justified by appropriate actuarial demonstration addressing margins and volatility when considering the entirety of the product.

(4) A greater margin may be appropriate in circumstances where the company has less credible experience to support its assumptions used to determine the premium rates.

f. (1) A statement that the premium rate schedule is not less than the premium rate schedule for existing similar policy forms also available from the insurer except for reasonable differences attributable to benefits; or

(2) A comparison of the premium rate schedules for similar policy forms that are currently available from the insurer with an explanation of the differences. It is not expected that the insurer will need to provide a comparison of every age and set of benefits, period of payment or elimination period. A broad range of expected combinations is to be provided in a manner designed to provide a fair presentation for review by the commission.

g. A statement that reserve requirements have been reviewed and considered. Support for this statement shall include: (i) sufficient detail or sample calculations provided so as to have a complete depiction of the reserve amounts to be held; and (ii) a statement that the difference between the gross premium and the net valuation premium for renewal years is sufficient to cover expected renewal expenses; or if such a statement cannot be made, a complete description of the situations where this does not occur. An aggregate distribution of anticipated issues may be used as long as the underlying gross premiums maintain a reasonably consistent relationship.

3. An actuarial memorandum prepared, dated, and signed by a qualified actuary shall be included and shall address and support each specific item required as part of the actuarial certification and provide at least the following information:

a. A description of the basis on which the long-term care insurance premium rates were determined;

b. A description of the basis for the reserves;

c. A summary of the type of policy, benefits, renewability, general marketing method, and limits on ages of issuance;

d. A description and a table of each actuarial assumption used. For expenses, an insurer must include percentage of premium dollars per policy and dollars per unit of benefits, if any;

e. A description and a table of the anticipated policy reserves and additional reserves to be held in each future year for active lives;

f. The estimated average annual premium per policy and the average issue age;

g. A statement that includes a description of the types of underwriting used, such as medical underwriting or functional assessment underwriting. Concerning a group policy, the statement shall indicate whether the enrollee or any dependent will be underwritten and when underwriting occurs;

h. An explanation of the review performed by the actuary prior to making the statements in subdivisions B 2 c and d of this section;

i. A complete description of pricing assumptions;

j. Sources and levels of margins incorporated into the gross premiums that are the basis for the statement in subdivision B 2 a of this section of the actuarial certification and an explanation of the analysis and testing performed in determining the sufficiency of the margins. Deviations in margins between ages, sexes, plans, or states shall be clearly described. Deviations in margins required to be described are other than those produced utilizing generally accepted actuarial methods for smoothing and interpolating gross premium scales;

k. A demonstration that the gross premiums include the minimum composite margin specified in subdivision B 2 e of this section; and

l. The anticipated loss ratio and a description of how it was calculated.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 19, Issue 12, eff. April 1, 2003; amended, Virginia Register Volume 23, Issue 17, eff. September 1, 2007; Volume 31, Issue 18, eff. September 1, 2015.

Statutory Authority

§§ 12.1-13, 38.2-223 and 38.2-5202 of the Code of Virginia.