I Love You, Ron Hagelman

Here’s a link to Ron Hagelman’s column in the March, 2011 edition of Broker World Magazine.

An excerpt from Ron’s piece:

“As mentioned in earlier columns: There is an elephant in the room that will not go away. Its presence should be crowding out any breathing room remaining to maintain a seemingly impenetrable wall of self-deception. In recent speeches, our Health and Human Services Secretary has concluded her long term care conversation by clearly defining the presence of the massive pachyderm: ‘In the years to come, nearly every American family will have a grandmother or a father or a sister or a son who needs daily help because of a disability.’

As one of those involved in sales every day, I remain puzzled, perplexed and peeved at the amazingly resilient ability to ignore the size, girth and smell of our extra large peanut-eating friend. It must somehow appear not to be a real elephant. It must miraculously be seen as only the illusion of an elephant.

The only way I can explain the persistent ability to so completely ignore the obvious is that this must be the proverbial pink elephant. An elephant that can appear and disappear based on one’s level of alcohol intake. But don’t be fooled, that pink elephant is on a 24/7 eating binge!

Again quoting the HHS ringmaster: ‘Approximately 10 million Americans need long term care services and support, ranging from having an aide visit for a few hours a week to living in a nursing home with around the clock care. As Americans age, that number will rise steadily; by 2020, the estimate is that 15 million Americans will need some kind of care…We know that one out of six people who reach the age of 65 will spend more than $100,000 on long term care.’”

Ron, I love you. Thanks for making me laugh out loud. I read this to my husband, and although he is not involved in the insurance industry, he enjoyed a hearty laugh, too – especially because he HAS long-term care insurance.

Although my colleague Ron writes for a trade journal, “lay” readers will easily understand it. I hope you’ll read Ron’s column. Be amused, but take what he says to heart.