Long Term Care Insurance Expert | Honey Leveen | Houston, TX

Helping you make informed LTC decisions

 
Request a Free, No-Obligation LTCi Quote
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • WHY LTCi
  • LTCi FAQs
  • PROCESS
  • TESTIMONIALS
  • ARTICLES
  • MEDIA
  • RESOURCES
  • VLOG
  • BLOG

Long-Term Care Insurance Can Be Costly but Effective

December 26, 2015 by Honey 1 Comment

Elderly WomanWhy doesn’t this New York Times article report on what its title promises it will, which is the effectiveness of long-term care insurance (LTCi)?

While being factually correct, this article puts the wrong “spin” on things.

It starts by giving the wrong title. LTCi is not necessarily costly. What can easily be far more costly is needing long-term care for anything but a short length of time and not owning LTCi.

The article “hooks” readers in the first paragraph by describing how LTCi preserves wealth. From there, this article gives readers excuses to avoid responsible LTC planning.

The truth is, the most important reason to own LTCi is not to preserve wealth. It is to preserve family integrity by reducing family resentment, stress and discord. The fact that LTCi also preserves wealth, and does it so well, is “icing on the cake.”

Families and governments are in budgetary crisis due to skyrocketing LTC costs.

Reporters and editors need to get the above perspectives corrected. Reporting needs to be done – now – on the hundreds of thousands of families collecting from LTCi and the radical qualitative difference that LTCi creates in their lives.

Here are some examples of the harmful “spin” I’m talking about:

The article hints that Ms. Cheng’s father is collecting enormous amounts from his LTCi policy, but it is not explicit about this. Why not? Why isn’t any space devoted to describing the extraordinary, qualitative difference LTCi has made not only for Ms. Cheng, but for her father?

Does Ms. Cheng own LTCi herself? Her advice about needing correct professional assistance with choosing LTCi, having a holistic outlook about the role of LTCi in estate planning, and asking children for input and help is sage. The reporter (Mr. Wasik)  should have asked her to comment about her own LTCi (if she doesn’t own LTCi, I just don’t understand why not, based on her personal experience and how wise she seems to be).

Instead, Mr. Wasik sidetracks readers with some “red herrings.”

There’s an irrelevant sentence describing how Keith Singer recommends clients with more than $500,000 should own LTCi. (I doubt he has any clients with less than a $500,000 net worth; most financial planners don’t.)  This sentence is harmful to readers, giving lower net-worth people one more excuse to dissuade themselves from doing responsible LTC planning. Such people are far more prone to catastrophe resulting from unplanned LTC needs. Here’s a story about a solid middle class couple with a 0,000 net worth that was devastated by unplanned LTC costs. This couple probably could have purchased very reasonable LTCi while they were insurable.

This sentence does not report on the effectiveness of LTCi (as the title purports) and is again potentially harmful to readers : “After a 90-day “elimination” period (often partly covered by Medicare for people whose need for extra care is hastened by a stroke or other medical emergency), the policy covers all assisted living, community and home care.” This perspective is incorrect, and further goads the American public to avoid responsible LTC planning by hinting that Medicare might assist with LTC costs. Medicare-paid LTC is not only paltry and inadequate; most people are not entitled to it.

Shame on Mr. Wasik and the NYT editors, whom I otherwise hold in high esteem. For the sake of the American public, reporting needs to be done now on the extraordinary, qualitative, transformative difference LTCi has and will make for hundreds of thousands of us.

Filed Under: 3 in 4 Need More, Denial, Helpful Information About LTC, Information About LTC, Misinformation About LTC, New York Times Tagged With: adult day care, assisted living, home care, home health care, Long Term Care insurance, Medicare, New York Times, Nursing Homes, Wealth Preservation

Expect an Alzheimer’s Epidemic

April 2, 2015 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

2015 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures were just released.

Between 2000 and 2013, the incidence of heart attacks, cancer, and other diseases fell, while the incidence of AD increased by 71%!

Prepare for the Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) epidemic. It’s coming.

In 2014, friends and family of people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias provided an estimated 17.9 billion hours of unpaid care, a contribution to the nation valued at $217.7 billion. This is approximately 46 percent of the net value of Walmart sales in 2013 and nearly eight times the total revenue of McDonald’s in 2013.

  • Approximately two-thirds of caregivers are women and 34 percent are age 65 or older.
  • Forty-one percent of caregivers have a household income of $50,000 or less.
  • Over half of primary caregivers of people with dementia take care of parents.
  • It is estimated that 250,000 children and young adults between ages 8 and 18 provide help to someone with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia.

Alzheimer’s takes a devastating toll on caregivers. Nearly 60 percent of Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers rate the emotional stress of caregiving as high or very high; about 40 percent suffer from depression. Due to the physical and emotional toll of caregiving, Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers had $9.7 billion in additional health care costs of their own in 2014.

If you want to read an article that makes the physical and emotional costs of caregiving real, read “Caring for Alzheimer’s: How Three Families Cope” from this week’s Wall Street Journal.

My advice for middle- and upper middle-class Americans is to prepare now, with long-term care insurance (LTCi), while you can qualify and find reasonable rates.

Filed Under: 3 in 4 Need More, Helpful Information About LTC, I'll Just Self-Insure, Information About LTC Tagged With: Alzheimer's Association, dementia, Honey Leveen, Long Term Care insurance, long-term care, LTCi, www.honeyleveen.com

Failure to Plan for LTC Akin to Denial of Climate Change

September 26, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Climate ChangeIt felt almost revelatory to realize the nearly perfect correlation between climate change deniers and people who refuse to plan responsibly for their long-term care.

Both denials appear to involve active refusal to accept facts.

According to one of many sources you may know (Google), the majority of us (77% in this instance), believe in global warming. That’s a strong majority.

This is approximately the same percentage of Baby Boomers who are concerned about their ability to pay for long-term care, depending on the study you read.

All reputable sources predict that 70% of us reaching age 65 will need long-term care at some point in our lives.

Fewer than one-third of us have saved for long-term care.

According to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, only about ten percent of us who are age and income-appropriate  own long-term care insurance (LTCi).

The facts are conclusive, there’s an 8,000 pound elephant of long-term care in the room.

Here’s  additional information on how unwise it is to deny the need for long-term care planning.

In the case of long-term care denial, I can give you one story after another about otherwise well-educated, affluent friends, who can afford LTCi premiums, have had first-hand experience being a caregiver, and who would be catastrophically affected if they need care for anything but a short period of time.

If I hadn’t seen in excess of 300 of the LTCi policies I’ve sold during the past 25 years pay off for my clients, if I hadn’t seen the transformative difference LTCi ownership makes, if I hadn’t been often thanked by clients for selling them their LTCi, I might almost be amused by the excuses people give me for not being willing to discuss long-term care planning with me.

I can understand hoping for the best, waging a fierce battle against the odds, and cultivation of an ever-present positive attitude. These things are helpful. This is not the same as denial. Denial is a straightforward avoidance of, a refusal to accept the facts. Such denial often leads to tragic outcomes.

Filed Under: 3 in 4 Need More, Denial, Elephant in the Room, I'll Just Self-Insure, Information About LTC Tagged With: American Associatin for Long-Term Care Insurance, Honey Leveen, Long Term Care insurance, long-term care, LTCi, www.aaltci.org, www.honeyleveen.com, www.longtermcare.gov

Report on an Exciting Joint Pilot Program Launched in Texas

August 6, 2012 by Honey Leave a Comment

On July 20th and 21st I had the chance to participate in a very exciting pilot program supported by the 3in4 Association, the Texas Long-Term Care Partnership and the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.

I was one of ten Texas based LTCi specialists carefully vetted and trained to participate in this program by the 3in4 Association. Our mission was to educate Texans on the how and why of responsible long-term care planning. The seminars took place in Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas/Fort Worth. Our training involved not only learning how to teach the seminar, but also all aspects of our conduct.

The outreach consisted of 50,000 direct mail pieces to surrounding zip codes.  The invitations were great looking. Recipients could register for a seminar by simply scanning a QR code or going to a special site, http://www.3in4needmore.com/texas-ltc-seminars, to register.

Our team was ready and prepared to do what we excel at, which is teaching the public about the risks of needing long-term care, and how to prepare responsibly for such an event.

The goals of the 3in4 Association and the Texas LTC Partnership coincide. Both organizations seek to increase awareness about the need to plan for long-term care. The 3in4 Association has “feet on the ground” to carry this mission to the public, through education. The Texas LTC Partnership does not, yet they share our strong conviction about the need to convey this information to the public. The groups are perfect partners.

The first seminars took place in Austin, on July 18 and 19th. Although I only attended the Houston seminars, I am told that the Austin seminars were well attended, especially the kickoff seminar, given by Dr. Marion, the 3in4 Association’s spokesperson. Many of the senior staff of HHS attended and were able to see how organized, professional and effective we were.

The seminars were arranged to coincide with Dr. Marion’s 12 week, cross-country bus tour. While she was in Houston, Dr. Marion’s bus pulled up to the Oak Branch Public Library, the location for Houston’s seminars. It was very exciting for me to finally see the bus in person.

The bus was built in 1967 by Greyhound and is very large and impressive, a sight that you can’t miss. I’m told it averages 5-6 mpg, weighs 25,000 pounds and is converted inside to support the film crew and their editing needs. The bus serves as home base for Dr. Marion and her crew during their 12 week cross-country tour to promote the in4 Need More campaign, the public service message of the 3in4 Association.

I had time to visit with Dr. Marion while she was in Texas and I am convinced the 3in4 Association could never find a better spokesperson. She is warm, engaging, eloquent, and a true believer in our cause.

Here’s an example of some of the great press coverage Dr. Marion and the tour received while inTexas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJOrlSVxm5M&feature=plcp

We are not quite sure why we had paltry attendance at theHoustonpresentations. We have many theories. The location was convenient. The seminar itself is about 20 minutes long, with plenty of time afterwards for Q & A. It’s a fun seminar. The slides are concise; offer good content, and even contain humor.

Speaking on behalf of myself and my Houston teammates on this project, Grace Harrington, Mary Dillon, and Kevin Cain, we feel this project was a success, despite lackluster seminar attendance. Perhaps this is because we feel deep conviction about the need for reaching out to the public with this very important information.

Here are some comments from Jonas Roeser, President and Founder of the 3in4 Association, “None of the success we have had thus far would have happened without your support. The hard part is over! As a group we have earned the trust of Health and Human Services of Texas (HHST) through transparency and selfless acts.  We have built a unique program, marketed the program to the public and received national coverage for the effort.  The only thing that seems to be missing is the willingness for large numbers of the public to step inside for our education process. I have been informed by a number of you that daytime seminars are a bad idea, night is better.  Summer is tough compared to fall, do it when children are back in school, etc. Thank you for the feedback and for your willingness to continue to serve.

“Build it and They Will Come,” is a famous quote from the “Field of Dreams” movie.  In time, this program will scale and be worth the time of LTC specialists who support them and the consumers who attended them.”

I am hoping that this collaboration will be replicated over and over, not only in Texas, but in other states.

 

Filed Under: 3 in 4 Need More, Helpful Information About LTC, Information About LTC Tagged With: 3in4 Association, Honey Leveen, TX Department of Health and Human Services, TX Long-Term Care Partnership, www.3in4needmore.com, www.honeyleveen.com

Dr. Marion and www.3in4needmore.com are in Houston!

July 21, 2012 by Honey Leave a Comment

The www.3in4needmore.com bus with Dr. Marion and her crew pulled up in front of the Oak Branch Public Library this afternoon. The vehicle, a very large and impressive sight that you can’t miss, averages 5-6 mpg, weighs 25,000 pounds, and is a converted 1967 Greyhound bus. It is decorated with sponsor logos all over.

The bus is home base for Dr. Marion and her crew. They are on a 12 week, cross-country trip to promote the www.3in4needmore.com campaign. They stop, meet the public, and do press interviews to inform the public about the need for responsible long-term care planning all along their journey.

One reason for the bus’s visit to Houston was to kick off a very exciting pilot program between  www.3in4needmore.com,  the TX Long-Term Care Partnership (TX LTCP), and the TX Department of Health and Human Services (TX HHS).

The www.3in4needmore.com campaign mission is to educate the public about the need for responsible long-term care planning. These goals are shared by the TX LTCP Partnership and TX HHS. What a great partnership!

Four special pilot seminars have been scheduled for July 20-21, 2012, in Houston. Similar seminars have been planned in other major TX cities.  www.3in4needmore.com members like myself, who have been carefully vetted and trained, will teach the seminars on behalf of the TX LTCP and TX HHS.

Long-term care insurance specialists like myself are qualified, available, and highly capable of teaching why responsible long-term care planning is urgently and vitally important. No selling, pressure or bias takes place during these educational seminars.

I am (obviously) very honored and proud to have been chosen to participate in this important project.

We are hoping this special www.3in4needmore.com, TX LTCP, TX HHS collaboration will go so well that it will be replicated over and over, not only in Texas, but in other states.

Dr. Marion taught today’s seminar. Three seminars will take place tomorrow. I will teach two of them, and my colleague, Kevin Cain, will teach the third. All seminars will take place at the Oak Branch Public Library, 1439 West 43rd Street, Houston, TX 77018. You may register to attend at http://www.3in4needmore.com/texas-ltc-seminars/

Click here to see a brief video of me and Dr. Marion.

Click here to see a story describing this exciting, collaborative pilot program between www.3in4needmore.com, TX LTCP and TX HHS.

Filed Under: 3 in 4 Need More, Helpful Information About LTC, Information About LTC Tagged With: Dr. Marion, Honey Leveen, LifeHealthpro.com, Marion Somers, ownyourownfuturetexas.org, TX Department of Health and Human Services, TX Long-Term Care Partnership, www.3in4needmore.com, www.honeyleveen.com

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

Contact Me

Phone: 713-988-4671
Fax: 281-829-7177

Email: honey@honeyleveen.com

Videos go here.

From My Blog

Podcast Illuminates LTC Need

Thanks to my long-time friend, client, beloved former radio personality, actress, author, passionate … [Read More...]

LTCI is Magical at Time of Need!

This is an actual, unsolicted, very meaningful, touching cleint testimonial, just recieved. I pasted … [Read More...]

Testimonials

Open Quotation Mark"Honey - Whenever I need a clarification regarding our “LTC” you are “Johnny on the spot” responding in a very prompt manner, reassuring me, informing me in a concise way, patient with me as I massage the understanding in my own words. Your knowledge is current and expressed with confidence, offered in your conscientious and upbeat personality. Quotation Mark ClosedIt is a pleasure to work with you. Thank you for your expertise." ~ Nancy Damon, Houston, TX
Read more

Thanks for visiting my site! I like hearing from you!

Here’s how to reach me:

Honey Leveen, LUTCF, CLTC, LTCP
“The Queen, by Self-Proclamation, of Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCi)”
404 Royal Bonnet
Ft. Myers, FL 33908

Phone: 713-988-4671
Fax: 281-829-7177

Email: honey@honeyleveen.com

Email: honey@honeyleveen.com

©Honey Leveen, Queen of Long-Term Care Insurance 2011-2015 ~ All Rights Reserved ~ Customization of Genesis Framework by Weborization