The Three Percent Solution

By Ronald R. Hagelman

Impossible not to envision a classic movie version of the damsel in distress tied to train tracks with the sure and certain speeding train barreling down the tracks, steam belching from the smokestack and whistle blaring in a futile effort to prevent an inevitable catastrophe. The problem is, here we are 20 years since HIPPA and we still cannot get a clear vision of what that potential hero hopefully coming to our rescue looks like or if he or she even exists. The potential ugliness of the risk grows larger and continues to resist any amelioration designed by mere mortals.

Forgive the painfully obvious—insurance is about intervention. It is about intentionally restructuring the potential outcome of highly likely adverse future possibilities.

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Webinar – Creating Your Next Sale

LARGE opportunity in the unserved/underserved middle America marketplace.

Topics:

• Designing questions to provoke clients’ thoughts to open the door for additional opportunities
• Identifying characteristics of those in the greatest need of a policy review
• Covering needs beyond simple income protection
• Outlining coverage goals clients may not know they have
• Ensuring clients’ coverage has kept pace with their life
• Spotting additional opportunities since clients last purchased coverage with enhanced living needs benefits

According to LIMRA data, half of existing policyholders have underestimated the volume of Life insurance needed to protect their families/estates.  Further, about 1 in 3 of these underinsured people earn more than $100k a year – meaning they have the resources to purchase additional coverage if they can be educated as to the need and costs of the coverage.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

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75 Must-Know Statistics About Long-Term Care

By: Christine Benz

If there’s a single unsolved problem in the retirement plans for many middle- and upper-middle-income adults, it’s what to do about long-term care costs later in life.

Very high-income, high-net-worth people can plan to self-fund long-term care costs, though I’d advise them to do the math on long-term care cost inflation before getting too comfy with the idea that they’ll have enough to do so. Meanwhile, people without significant financial assets will need to rely on Medicaid-provided long-term care. That’s most people: Medicaid and other government programs cover the majority of the long-term care costs in the U.S.

Sandwiched in the middle are people with some, even significant, financial assets–just not necessarily enough to comfortably fund a $300,000 (or more) long-term care outlay at the end of their lives. For them, the choices are stark and rather unappealing.

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NGL Webinar – Access Life

Introducing a new approach to Linked Benefit/Chronic Illness and Extended Care products!

Topics:

Guaranteed premiums that are guaranteed to never change!

Cash Benefits paid to the insured for Chronic Illness/Extended LTC needs

Allowing the insured flexibility in who they hire for home care; family- and unlicensed people are able to provide care in their own homes!

Online drop-ticket application process with same day underwriting decisions in most cases

NO Needles, Paramed or Body Fluids required–EVER

NO LTC certification needed to sell the plan

Plan designs/pricing/marketing materials designed to be simple—for middle America

Guaranteed Death Benefit for the life of the policy

Guaranteed Final Expense & Terminal Illness Benefit

Guaranteed Cash Value

Quick and generous commissions paid DAILY!

Barry Fisher, Blair Farwell and Ron Cohen will present a webinar you don’t want to miss.

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Preparing for an effective LTC conversation with clients

Shawn Britt, CLU®, CLTC

Director, Long-term care initiatives, Advanced Consulting Group

What is the best way to sell long-term care (LTC) products? You don’t sell product, or start a LTC conversation, touting the value of having LTC coverage. You may find more success by discussing the importance of planning for such an event, and the consequences that could follow if there is no plan in place. Your goal is to be a “problem solver,” not a sales person.

Once the client sees the need for LTC planning, that will lead to a need to fund their own LTC plan. You can then show your client funding options (products) for LTC that provides a “win-win” outcome. But first, let’s look at a few things to remember when becoming an LTC planner.

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Nursing home costs in the U.S. are rising even faster than health care

By Kate Gibson / MoneyWatch

• The cost of nursing homes in the U.S. can easily top $70,000 a year and has risen even faster than that of overall medical care in some states, a Georgetown University Medical Center study found.
• New York nursing homes were the most expensive, averaging more than $300 a day, while Texas had the most affordable facilities.

Nursing home costs can cost upwards of $100,000 a year, a heavy financial burden even for Americans who have set money aside for their later years — and a crushing one for those who haven’t. And those costs are rising, even outstripping the rising cost of health care in the U.S.

 

“What is already expensive is only getting more so,” said Dr. Sean Huang, lead author of a study by researchers at the Georgetown University Medical Center.

The cost of nursing home care is a particular risk for people without long-term care insurance or Medicaid coverage, Huang said, noting the number of Americans who are already short on retirement savings. Annual out-of-pocket expenditures can easily exceed $70,000, found the analysis of prices from 2005 through 2010 across eight U.S. states.

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The Trump Administration Is Looking At Tax Breaks And Other Ways To Boost Private Long-Term Care Insurance

The Trump Administration is (very quietly) looking at ways to reinvigorate the flagging private long-term care (LTC) insurance market. The recommendations are expected to surface later this year. And they likely will be very modest.

The ideas being considered would make some regulatory changes and create new tax subsidies to encourage consumers to purchase private LTC insurance. They would send an important signal that the Administration recognizes that this private insurance currently is not serving many middle-income consumers and that the federal government should work with states to “regrow” the private market. However, the proposals are unlikely to build much interest among those with middle-incomes.

To address LTC insurance, the White House set up an interagency task force that includes representatives from Treasury, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Internal Revenue Service, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Department of Labor. The effort is part of a much broader review of financial services laid out in Treasury’s 2017 Report on Asset Management and Insurance.

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