INSURANCE COMPANY ROBS SENIORS OF HOPE

Hello. My name is Bill Silverman. I am 74 years old and I am living in assisted living in Mass. I have a Conseco long-term policy and I've paid in at least 15 years of premiums into this policy which ran me about $3,000 a year. And now, the insurance company transferred my policy, along with all the policies, into a trust.

I am concerned about the viability of the trust and if it does become insolvent, what will happen to me? Will the state of PA assume responsibility? I need these benefits in order to pay my monthly rent, which is $4600 a month, which is a lot. I can't pay out of pocket. I need to stay here and depend on that financial security which I expected that my policy would give me. I'm thinking about the future.

How does one get through the bureaucratic mess in order to get a scheme like this out into the media? I've been working on this for a few months. I have a long-term policy with Conseco. Their long-term case business is licensed in Pennsylvania. They dumped over 140,000 senior long-care policies into a trust which means it doesn't have the backing of an insurance company any longer. It might look OK on paper, but in my opinion, and the opinion of experts who know a lot more than me, it's only a matter of time before the trust fails. And then, what?

Nothing could happen, and I'd be out of luck. Or the State of Pennsylvania could step in, either take over the policies or it could liquidate them. I'd then have the option of going through the state guarantee fund. I'm not sure if it would mean the PA fund or Massachusetts. If I made it that far, and I was lucky in the process, the money might last for a year and a half. And then I'd be back to the beginning.

Out of luck.

The bottom line is that I would lose all the premiums I've paid, and I'd be out of pocket. I've been trying to get this into the media. No success so far. I tried The New York Times, the Washington Post, the major newspapers in Boston. No responses from them. I even tried the state attorney general in my state. And the state insurance commission. The advocates for seniors. There are always the same responses. "Not in our jurisdiction." No one will go the extra mile. 

When they insurance company transferred it to a trust, they didn't let me know  so I'd have input and they didn't send letters to all the other 170,000 policy holders. I found out accidently through my broker. I asked how Conseco was doing. Which is how I came up with this news. Otherwise, I would be in the dark. They did publish a notice about the comment period for the trust in the Pennsylvania Bulletin in December. The fact they published their intent would have been be fine if I lived in PA and looked at the Bulletin. 

It's a bailout for Conseco. They are failing. They were warned that their ratings would be downgraded if they didn't deal with long-term care. It's a bailout on the backs of people who can't speak for themselves. A lot of people who are collecting benefits and can't defend themselves. 

This is all with the cooperation of the commissioner of insurance in PA. Conseco is a billion-dollar company. I hear that the chief executive officer makes 1.2 million dollars a year, and he has a lot of stock options in the company. The trust has five trustees and no one oversees that they're doing in the board room.  No one is representing the policy holder. It's terrible. It's very unfair.

I called an ombudsman in PA, and I will hear from her on Monday. I'll see what she has to say and if I can get someone in my corner to represent policyholders. Also I was pointed to a public relations person and she has a very tentative spot scheduled on 60 Minutes, specifically about this. I'm still trying to do what I can, rather than wait until April when she thinks it has a chance of going on the air.

There are no guarantees, and meanwhile, I'm telling everyone I know and getting out the word. 

The company is asking for rate increases. That will probably cause lapsed policies. This trust, from what I've read, is facing a downward spiral, especially in these economic times. My goal is to have the insurance company take responsibility for these policies. They have donated $170 million to the trust and then, that's it. Conseco no longer has any responsibility, so this makes their stockholders happy.

My question: does power and money and influence always win over the small guy? 

For someone wanting to get the background of this situation, do a search on Google for "Conseco" and "Form A" and you'll get the sorry history of the situation. 

To get in touch with me, send me an email at: bills2359@yahoo.com. Or call me at 413-637-7423. My cell is 413-717-1457. I'm only too happy to speak to anyone who can shed some light on this situation.

This is an unacceptable situation, and I am doing everything I can to represent myself and seniors like me. The constitution guarantees a "redress of grievances." There is no possibility of a redress of grievances if seniors don't know this is happening. The insurance commissioners in PA claims this process has transparency. But how could that be if no one knows about it? I'm the small guy, and they're the huge guy.

The story hasn't really hit yet. So I have become the messenger for 170,000 seniors who may someday be out on the streets. But I'm not the kind of guy to take this sitting down.