Create the understanding of the problem or locate the existing need and provide a solution. We got it. The only variable in the sales process is how much commitment you have built in to solve how much of the problem. The only meaningful demarcation is between those who understand they need to do something and those who continue to place their faith in divine intervention and or government largesse.
The truth about long term care is painfully obvious. For the majority of Americans the claim is of a short duration and financially manageable. However, for a substantial double-digit number, it can be a financial and emotional debacle. There have always been two sales. The first and most popular approach which, by the way, we have done a fairly good job of addressing, is to measure the potential size of the entire financial exposure and then buy a policy to cover the risk. I personally loaded the boat (lifetime benefits, 5 percent compound inflation, 100 percent indemnity and 10 pay) when I bought my policy because the catastrophic risk was my primary concern. I lost my wife two years ago. She also had a paid-up policy just like mine. Forgive me for clarifying the obvious—the money for her policy is gone, but so is the risk! For those who can afford to, leveraging this risk directly by paying for as much protection as their budget will allow shall remain the absolute best solution.
The second sale is, in many ways, even more important. It addresses an even more important principal. It’s not just that some insurance is better than no insurance, it’s that so little insurance can make such a huge difference in someone’s life. At the point of claim, all available dollars will be put on the table to solve the problem. As little as $50 a day added to Social Security and even a little savings, home equity or personal retirement benefit can guarantee the private pay status of an individual. Providing control of the quality of life issues should be at the beginning of any plan for custodial care. I saw some recent academic research suggesting that maybe it was just best and cheaper to simply streamline your admission into the Medicaid welfare system. Frankly, a sterile academic environment may be the wrong place to evaluate this problem. I can’t help wishing that those good folks could share the privilege of spending a month in a semi-private ward of one of those wonderful Medicaid warehouses that the middle class should just resign themselves to patronizing.
Now let’s see if we can connect some dots. The group/association/multi-life LTCI market is on life support. The only place to deliver relief and control of the claim process is at the worksite. Supplemental coverage is a valid and critical choice. Short term care policies, whether sold on an individual or group basis, represent an exceptional opportunity to change the destiny of all who purchase coverage. These policies provide benefits similar to long term care, nursing home, assisted living facility and home health care, and they fly just under the regulatory radar with benefit periods just short of 365 days—the minimum benefit for a tax-qualified LTCI policy. These policies are often described as a “recovery benefit”—they can fill in the gaps created by longer elimination periods and buy time for the family to get a better and more permanent plan in place. Perhaps most important, they can represent an affordable “add on” to existing funds for care, making the difference in maintaining the freedom of private care with private choices. Although these policies may have some limitations, they may also provide freedom of choice at very reasonable rates.
There are, of course, other concerns when taking these options to the worksite. Underwriting may remain an obstacle. Two sales are harder to explain quickly than one. Long term care certification muddies the water. There is, however, growing consumer resistance to “use it or lose it” premiums and the continuing uncertainty of potential premium increases from pure health insurance.
The answer is right in front of us. There may be a Technicolor solution just over the rainbow. One with which we are intimately familiar, and with a long and personal relationship in which we are readily available to provide experienced guidance. Currently almost one-third of all stand-alone life insurance has some form of accelerated death benefit attached. Combo products available at the worksite addressing two needs are beginning to appear and gain traction. Life and health LTCI riders, alone or in combination, attached to UL or whole life, can create a transforming sales opportunity. Creating a worksite combo product with potentially guaranteed premiums, the certain knowledge that someone will always get paid, underwriting that is diminished or eliminated, and premiums that are dramatically reduced is in my humble opinion the best formula for success I’ve seen in some time.
Other than that I have no opinion on the subject.
