Reaching the Middle Market, Part 2: How to Make Yourself Heard

By David Whiteside

Social media posts might not have magic powers

Last week, in Reaching the Middle Market, Part 1: Why You Need a Strategy, David Whiteside talked about how big, and complicated, the U.S. middle market really is.

Here, Whiteside talks about how insurance agents, advisors and other financial services players are dividing the middle market into segments, and how they’re getting the attention of the people in their target segments.

Full Article

Reaching the Middle Market, Part 1: Why You Need a Strategy

By David Whiteside

Most agents and advisors make their first sales in the middle market. Many then move on, but those first anxious visits around the kitchen table or in small, cluttered offices are part of their foundation.

Lower life and health commissions have re-focused agents elsewhere, but the middle market is still there, bigger than ever. As the affluent, senior, and large-group sectors become saturated, advisors are showing more interest in coming home to the middle market.

Full Article

Genworth Beats Earnings Expectations in Q1

By Allison Bell Insurance Editor ThinkAdvisor  Think_Allison

LTCI rate hikes helped boost premium revenue

The Richmond, Virginia-based insurer reported $216 million in net income for the first quarter on $2.2 billion in revenue, up from $108 million in net income on $1.8 billion in revenue per share. Earnings were about 20% higher than what Wall Street securities analysts had predicted, and revenue was 1.5% higher.

Full Article

5 New Facts About Retirees’ Real Health Care Bills

Even Medicare enrollees with gap-filler coverage still face gaps

Analysts who want to protect low-income Medicare enrollees against increased out-of-pocket costs have published interesting new data on the high-income enrollees’ out-of-pocket spending.

Cathy Schoen and two other colleagues affiliated with the Commonwealth Fund put the spending estimates, which are based on government survey data, in a review of Medicare enrollees’ cost burden, broken down by income and health status.

(Related: Elderly Spend Nearly 20% of Income on Health Care: EBRI)

Younger people and health care policymakers tend to talk as if Medicare is a magic wand that makes patients’ health care costs disappear.

Full Article

Sales Ideas

• Modified Endowment Contracts and the 7-Pay Test The rules can lead well-meaning clients without good advisors into tax-rule maze. Read more.
• How Advisors Can Help Clients Age in Place As clients age, staying in their homes may require significant upgrades. Read more.

5 ways Genworth wants to reboot LTCI

Thomas McInerney says private insurers can ease the burden on Medicaid

Can private long-term care insurance really do much to help the United States pay the baby boomers’ home care, adult day care and nursing home bills?

The debate has been cooling and flaring since 1989 and 1990, when the Pepper Commission was looking into the possibility of creating a universal Medicare long-term care benefits program.

Full Article

Addressing the Myths of Long-Term Care

When it comes to LTC protection, it’s time to know the myths, master the facts, and have the conversation.

Retirement readiness risks come in all shapes and sizes, and few loom larger than the potential cost of long-term care (LTC). Most financial professionals understand the magnitude of this risk; however, preparing clients to address LTC costs often means overcoming a set of well-entrenched myths. Understanding some common myths in advance and becoming well-versed in the facts can change the course of the conversation. And most importantly, it can help create a stronger retirement strategy for clients at a range of income levels.

Myth: “My health insurance provides all the protection I need for long-term care.”

Full Article