Denial Archives - Page 11 of 19 - Long Term Care Insurance Expert | Honey Leveen

Denial is a Curious Beast

December 15, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Refusal to plan for long-term care and refusal to believe manmade activities are creating global warming are caused by the same thing. What a revelation to me! A book called Living in Denial, by Kari Marie Norgaard examines the causes of climate change denial.

Here’s an essay about Dr. Norgaard’s book. I love the fact that her book defines the three different types of denial:

Literal denial. This is the outright refusal to believe the facts and to dispute the consensus science, and even to deny the existence of a scientific consensus. Many so-called “climate skeptics” fit into this category.
Interpretive denial. This involves not disputing the underlying reality, but using euphemisms and framing to distort meaning. An example of this kind of denial might be the Government of Alberta claiming that it is improving emissions intensity (emissions per barrel) from the oil sands, while absolute emissions of CO2 are increasing rapidly due to growing bitumen production.
Implicatory denial. Here, the facts are not denied or re-interpreted, but instead “the psychological, political or moral implications that conventionally follow” from those facts are denied or ignored. Implicatory deniers accept the reality of human-caused climate change, but they live their lives as if the problem was little to do with them. This variety of denial is the main focus of the book. Most of us who live at a high standard of living in developed countries are guilty to some degree of implicatory denial.

These are exactly the same denial behaviors I see all the time!

For 25 years I’ve had well-educated, affluent friends and acquaintances who like, respect, and trust me, make excuses to not talk with me about reasonable, responsible long-term care planning. Intellectually, these people know better. They are making sound decisions in other areas of their lives, but they refuse to accept the fact that after age 65, they might be one of the 70% of us are going to need some sort of long-term care.

There’s little about denial that makes sense to me.

We Are In A Slow Cooker

December 12, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

This article from the October 31, 2014 New York Times confirms that the majority of Americans believe in global warming. Republicans are more likely to deny human-caused climate change than Democrats are. The New York Times article gives clear evidence of how and why Republicans just don’t want to discuss climate change, even though the public does want to see it addressed.

Even if Republicans were more willing to discuss climate change, the current political climate would probably prevent any affirmative climate change legislation from occurring.

The same lack of willingness to discuss climate change in Washington holds true for long-term care policy. I’ve written many blogs explaining why government (Medicaid)-paid long-term care is increasingly hazardous to families and our economy, yet nothing is being done about this in Washington.

If you want to ensure your dignity, options, and access to care and if you are among the 70% of us who will need long-term care after the age of 65, you better not depend on the government. Unless you are have absolutely no qualms about depleting your hard earned savings to pay for care that can cost upwards of $50,000/year, you better own reasonably priced long-term care insurance (LTCi).

Human-Caused Global Warming Is Here But Denied, Just Like LTC Odds

November 2, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

According to an article in the September-October issue of Audubon Magazine by Elizabeth Kolbert, who’s written the recently released “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,” 97% of all climate scientists agree that human-caused climate change is happening.

According to a Pew Research Center Study done earlier this year asking Americans about their own beliefs in global warming, only 45% of us believe human activity was the main cause. And only 58% of us know that carbon dioxide is the gas most scientists believe causes temperatures in the atmosphere to rise.

I am pretty fascinated by this denial of climate change. It parallels denial of the need for responsible long-term care planning in so many ways. I believe the psychological denial mechanism used to avoid believing in global warming is nearly identical to denial of the high probability of needing long-term care. Both are about avoidance of the most unpleasant facts. Both issues mandate discussion and education in order to understand them properly and to do something constructive about them.

Global warming has been in the press a lot lately and is now being given the credibility it deserves. Still, important discussions about it in Washington and most states is not occurring.

For most of the 25 years I’ve been selling long-term care insurance (LTCi), the press has often misrepresented the facts and typically led articles with a negative, inflammatory bias even when some truth follows. And financial pundits have often pooh-poohed the need for LTCi.

Recently, however, the press and pundits have begun to report affirmatively on the need for LTCi and responsible LTC planning. Still, not enough of us are following their lead. In coming years, there will be a lot of Baby Boomers and their families in turmoil and crisis due to unplanned needs for LTC.

Here’s a cool website called What We Know. Its purpose is to educate the public, which hopefully, will create better public policy concerning global warming. This site is produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The long-term care insurance (LTCi) industry has comparable, highly reputable sites with outstanding LTCi content and education. Here’s one: www.aaltci.org. Find links to several more, here.

No one seems to read these sites. Or perhaps they read them and there is some type of emotional disconnect, an inability to assimilate such inconvenient truths.

Failure to Plan for LTC Akin to Denial of Climate Change

September 26, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

It 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.

Is Traditional LTCi or Hybrid LTCi best for you?

September 12, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Here’s a September, 2014 Morningstar article by Christine Benz describing the main differences between traditional long-term care insurance (LTCi) and the newer hybrid (also known as “combo”) LTC products. Hybrid LTC products are life or annuity based; traditional LTCi is a type of health insurance.

This article is good because it is written in “lay” language.

I have more articles that describe the differences between traditional versus hybrid LTC approaches. Email me and I’ll send additional articles to you.

Although I’ve been working primarily with traditional LTCi for the past 24 years, before embarking on this career, I spent a couple of years selling life, health and disability insurance. I still know how to explain complicated aspects of life and annuity-based products adeptly and simply.

There are pluses and minuses to each approach. I like to show both approaches and don’t favor either. I just want to see more people take the high risk, high cost odds of needing long-term care more seriously, and plan accordingly.

In the Big Picture, each approach is good. Just take action and plan for needing long-term care, now!

Here’s an old, rhetorical question that’s been around well before I started my career. Here it is: what’s the best insurance policy? Answer: the one that’s in force when you need it!

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Denial is a Curious Beast

We Are In A Slow Cooker

Human-Caused Global Warming Is Here But Denied, Just Like LTC Odds

Failure to Plan for LTC Akin to Denial of Climate Change

Is Traditional LTCi or Hybrid LTCi best for you?

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