Conseco workers to transfer, but stay in Carmel

Conseco Inc. will transfer 120 of its 2,300 Carmel employees to a Minnesota company, under a plan the insurer announced today.

The employees, who make up nearly two-thirds of Conseco’s long-term care team, still will work from Conseco’s offices on its Carmel campus.

Along with the employees, Conseco will shift administration of 170,000 of its old long-term care policies to the Minnesota firm, Long Term Care Group, a third-party insurance administrator. Those policies have bedeviled Conseco in the last year, causing it to spend more than $220 million to shore up claims reserves for them.

Now, the Long Term Care Group will operate a call center for the holders of those policies and process their continuing claims. That transition will happen in two phases. The Long Term Care Group will take over claims duties by early 2009 and all other administrative duties by 2010.

Conseco still will make initial claim decisions, handle claim appeals, and report financial results from the policies. The 170,000 policies will remain on Conseco’s books.

The move affects only long-term care policies that are part of the Conseco Insurance Group, the Carmel-based subsidiary of Conseco. The company will continue to sell and administer long-term care policies through its Bankers Life subsidiary in Chicago.

Referring to the Long Term Care Group by its initials, Conseco CEO Jim Prieur said, “By expanding our relationship with LTCG to further leverage LTCG’s systems and service expertise, we will better manage this business and better serve our customers.”