CREW sends letter warning about bias of allegedly neutral “Center for LTC Reform”
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has sentletters to two national organizations, the National Association ofInsurance Commissioners and the National Association of State MedicaidDirectors, concerning Stephen Moses and the Center for Long-Term CareReform and his planned “National Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour.”Moses has spent the past decade posing as an independent expert from arespected think tank that analyzes the need for long-term careinsurance, but is in fact serving as a front for the long-term careinsurance industry. According to his website, Mr. Moses has testified as an independentexpert on long-term care before two-thirds of the nation’s statelegislatures. He has been quoted in stories around the country and hasbeen actively working to create legislation to benefit the industry instates including Kansas and Texas.
Mr. Moses is not, however, actually independent. When he launchedthe Center for Long-Term Care Reform in 1998, he began activelysoliciting the industry for contributions, stating “The long-term careinsurance industry — and LTC providers whose financial survivaldepends on the growth of private financing — must take steps toencourage private sector solutions. The Center for Long-Term Financingis uniquely positioned to promote this effort.” He also boasted, “theCenter increases long-term care insurance sales remarkably” and he hastouted his appearance as an impartial expert claiming, “our establishedcredibility as an independent third-party voice allows us to perform inessential roles that no one else can fill for reasons of perceived biasand self-interest.”
In January 2008, Mr. Moses will begin a “National Long-Term CareConsciousness Tour.” The tour first focuses on the southeast, thenmoves to southwestern states, followed by the northeast, the midwestand finally the west coast. Details of the tour are available at http://www.centerltc.com/bullets/latest/727.htm.Mr. Moses has been soliciting corporate and organizational sponsorshipsto help him make the tour profitable. Part of the purpose of the touris to make “political contacts with Governors, state legislators, citycouncil members, Congressional representatives, state InsuranceCommissioners, Medicaid directors and their staffs toward the end ofimproving long-term care public policy.”
By “improving long-term care public policy,” Mr. Moses really meansworking to increase the number of people purchasing of long-term careinsurance. Mr. Moses has blamed government funding of Medicaid for thefact that the long-term care insurance market is not expanding asrapidly as insurers would like.
Read text of CREW’s letter: http://www.citizensforethics.org/files/Roherty%20NASMD.pdf