Long Term Care Insurance Associations Offers State Insurance Guaranty Directory

While most consumers are aware that bank deposits are protected and insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) few understand that similar protections exist for insurance products.

"Each state and the District of Columbia maintains a State Guaranty Association that protects consumers in case an insurance company fails," explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance http://www.aaltci.org. "In fact most states have two entities, one that protects life and health insurance products and one for property and casualty lines of business since each is quite different."

Consumers are protected at levels set by the State with levels generally ranging from $100,000 to as much as $500,000.

The insurance associations operate differently than the FDIC which assesses each bank a regular ongoing fee. "That cost of the FDIC fee is actually borne by bank depositors as a fee they don't see but definitely pay for," Slome explains. "The State Guaranty Associations do not collect regular fees but rather only assess a fee when an insurance company fails, which is a fairly rare occurrence."

In the case of an insurance company failure, all remaining insurance companies that operate in the state are assessed the necessary fee to protect policyholders of the failed company. "They must pay the fee to protect the consumers," Slome adds.

A new online directory which explains insurance company limits for each of the 51 State Guaranty Associations as well as website and phone contact numbers has been created by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. It can be accessed online at http://www.aaltci.org/guaranty.

"Consumers should be aware that these valuable protections exist," Slome explains. "It is a question often asked by those looking into long-term care insurance planning."

The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance http://www.aaltci.org is the national trade organization focused on educating individuals about the importance of long-term care planning. The Association's Consumer Information Center was voted the #1 source for information by consumer interest group rating and can be accessed at http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance.

American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance
3835 E Thousand Oaks Blvd
Westlake Village, CA 91362

This release was published on openPR.