Committee hears bill to require long-term care insurers to pay claims in North Dakota basic care settings

The House Industry, Business and Labor Committee opened a hearing on Senate Bill 2172 on long-term care insurance and heard that the North Dakota Insurance Department is seeking to codify an interpretation that claim payments be based on medical need, not solely the licensure category of the facility where a claimant resides.

"We respectfully request a due pass recommendation from the committee on Senate bill 21 72," Crystal Bartuska, life and health division director for the North Dakota Insurance Department, told the committee. Bartuska said the department has received numerous complaints from policyholders who paid premiums for decades but had claims denied when they tried to access benefits.

The bill would narrow how insurers may deny payments by emphasizing eligibility criteria in the policy — such as activities of daily living (ADLs) and cognitive impairment —…