Letters: calpers' long-term care rates on the rise

Re “CalPERS’ long-term care rates to surge,” Business, Feb. 22 I retired as a college teacher in 2009 and had bought my long-term care policy in the late ‘90s. I was influenced to get it by

two factors: I had watched financial advisor Suze Orman on PBS support long-term care policies as a part of retirement planning, and I had watched my father forced to spend down his modest

estate to virtually nothing in order to qualify my dementia-suffering mother to receive nursing home care under Medi-Cal. I began to get periodic notices that I would have to choose between

retaining the same premium and losing benefits or increasing my premium to continue the policy as written. The first time I opted to pay more; the second time I opted to reduce benefits.

About the time I retired, I got yet another notice offering the same choice. It was a tough decision, but I decided to cut my losses and drop the policy. I felt betrayed by CalPERS; it

seemed like a Ponzi scheme in which the insurance company actuaries had factored in my actions to make the plan work — drive out early subscribers with benefit cuts and premium increases to

get its money and not have to pay out. I have also stopped paying any attention to Suze Orman. _Robert Huber_ _Yorba Linda_ More letters to the editor ... MORE TO READ