Search Results for: AHIP

Affluent Retirees Won’t Spend Their Money!

August 22, 2018 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Affluent people often tell me they don’t need long-term care insurance (LTCi). They’ll self-insure, instead. This is contrary to my experience.

Traditional retirement planning typically calls for a gradual drawing down of savings to produce retirement income. Contrary to this long-held belief, a recent study published by Employee Benefit Research Institute (ERBI) proves otherwise. In fact, affluent retirees do not want to spend their money!

As illogical as it sounds, this is a point I have been writing about for years. Retirees find great comfort in the size of their nest egg and there is too much uncertainty in their future.

ERBI’s new study shows affluent retirees (with over $500,000 in non-housing savings) had only spent down 11.8 percent of their savings within the first twenty years of retirement. This is far less than projected. In fact about one-third of sampled retirees increased their assets over that period.

Relaxing About the Future

My strong opinion, based on nearly 30 years of client observation, is this: LTC insurance ownership releases people from an ever-present gray storm cloud of a possible LTC need looming on the horizon. The gray cloud grows ever larger with each passing year. Let’s call it the LTC Storm Cloud. It’s caused by fear of an unexpected, unplanned for, possibly catastrophically expensive “Spending Shock“, caused by a chronic long term care need.

An AHIP study released in 2014 (email me at honey@honeyleveen.com for the actual study) confirms LTC insurance owners get 35% more hours of care, as well as many additional advantages, such as increased independence and dignity, decreased financial stress, higher quality family relationships, and the list goes on.

The reason LTC insurance owners obtain more care is because they’re not paying for it out of their income or savings.

I see people denying their true need for care all the time. Often, it’s because they have the money for it, but just don’t want to spend it. They’re afraid of losing their wealth. Don’t let this happen to you!

When you’re ready to get some peace of mind about your future needs, click here to receive a no-obligation quote for your personal LTCi policy.

Who Buys Long Term Care Insurance?

November 8, 2017 by Honey Leave a Comment

A report by AHIP and Lifeplans, two highly reputable entities, came out at the beginning of 2017 that studied which consumers chose to purchase long term care insurance (LTCi) over the last 25 years. They wanted to determine “Who Buys Long Term Care Insurance” and what has changed in the marketplace over time.

They looked at purchasing trends, attitudes around the need for long term care, the perceived role of the federal government, family responsibility and protecting a legacy. One thing is certain: the need for long term care is being more widely recognized.

This report has a ton of valuable information. To read the juicy details, you can read the full results here. For now, let’s take a look at Buyers vs. Non-buyers.

Do You Fit the Profile?

Demographics

Buyers are more likely to be married, college-educated, working, and have high income and assets.
Non-buyers have slightly lower assets. This is echoing what we see every day in our business. There has been a shift in LTCi sales to a much more affluent client than 25 years ago.

Opinions & Attitudes

Buyers are planners. Buyers are more likely to think that they will need LTC in the future in comparison to non-buyers. Conversely, non-buyers choose not to plan for their future medical needs.
Buyers worry less about paying for LTC services than non-buyers. Non-buyers understand that if they need LTC services, the government will not be paying for it, although many non-buyers mistakenly believe that their needs will be provided for by the government.
Buyers tend to believe that they will probably require care in a nursing home or in their own homes at some point in the future. Non-buyers don’t think this is need will likely arise in their lives.

Cost Factors

For non-buyers, cost is the major barrier to becoming a buyer. This hasn’t changed in 25 years. Other reasons include: skepticism about insurance companies, lack of understanding of the real risk of LTC and confusion about what the state and federal governments will or won’t pay for.
Most buyers would prefer smaller, more frequent rate increases than larger, less frequent rate increases.
More than ¾ of non-buyers would be interested in purchasing LTCi if they could deduct the premium from their taxes. They believe that the government should encourage people to buy LTCi by making it fully tax deductible.
Non-buyers favor a government stop loss program of catastrophic coverage where they would buy a smaller LTCi policy that would wrap around a public program. Members of the general population believe in the public financing of LTC.

Other Decisions

For non-buyers, ⅓ don’t plan to purchase in the future, but ⅔ do plan to become buyers at a later date. These later buyers view LTCi as part of a retirement plan and believe that they can postpone becoming buyers until they are closer to retirement.
Most buyers understood that waiting resulted in higher premiums, so they started years before The majority of buyers cited the reason they didn’t delay this purchase until retirement was their understanding that the cost of insurance would increase in the future.
Most buyers don’t buy without seeking advice from other people. Those who most impacted their LTCi buying decision were their spouses/partners and their insurance agents. Most recently, financial advisors are becoming more influential in this decision-making process.
70% of non-buyers say they would be more interested in becoming a buyer if they were able to comparison shop on the internet.

What we see consistently, for over 25 years, is that the #1 reason people buy LTCi is for preservation of assets.

So… Who buys long term care insurance? Maybe you!

Click here to receive a free quote for long term care insurance.

One in Five Nursing Home Residents Report Abuse

June 20, 2016 by Honey Leave a Comment

A new study reports one in five – or about 20% of nursing home residents – have experienced at least one resident-to-resident abusive event.

This is a conundrum brought about by abysmally low pay to nursing home caregivers, and by Medicaid reimbursement rates so low it is difficult for nursing homes to stay in the black. The majority of nursing home residents are covered by Medicaid.

Here’s a blog I wrote showing nursing home workers are quitting to work at McDonald’s, where they get paid more and don’t have to mess with bedpans or possible back injuries.

The article mentions the double homicide at a nursing home not far from here. Here is a series of blogs I did about this event.

If you want to greatly increase the odds you will not wind up in a nursing home, you need to own long-term care insurance (LTCi). Most LTCi policyholders are able to remain at home or move to an assisted living facility, instead of a nursing home. The evidence is in a recent AHIP study sited here; ask and I will email the complete study to you.

Undeniable Proof That LTCi Is Good for America!

November 24, 2014 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

A report proving how and why long-term care insurance (LTCi) helps all of us and our country was just published. LifePlans conducted the study over a period of twelve years. It was commissioned by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).

Here’s background on the report.

The report shows that that for LTCi policyholders:

A typical 60-year old LTCi policyholder would pay $188/month in premium for the same amount of care they would otherwise have to save $1,666/month, for 22 years, for.
Roughly 22 years of premium payments would be returned after only five months of collecting from the average LTCi policy.
The majority (97.6%) of all LTCi claims get paid. My experience has been that the only reasons LTCi claims are not paid are due to incomplete claim paperwork or no true need.
Most LTCi claimants agree that LTCi enhances access and flexibility as they seek to obtain to the services of their choice.
LTCi owners receive on average 35% more hours of care than those without, and their care is also more likely to address their needs.
The LTCi industry currently serves 7.4 million policyholders and is expected to pay out roughly $700 billion in claims over the life of those policies.

For Family Caregivers, the report shows:

Individuals caring for family members with LTCi are nearly twice as likely to be able to continue working as when there is no LTCi.
Caregivers of LTCi claimants experience less stress finding appropriate services for their loved ones.
LTCi enables family members to spend less time on hands-on care and more on social interaction and companionship, which leads to better experiences and less stress.

Why the report proves that LTCi is good for America:

Because LTCi covers a majority of LTC costs, insureds are not forced to depend on Medicaid.
Between 21 and 31% of insured nursing home residents would spend down to qualify for Medicaid if they did not own LTCi. Fewer than 5 percent of LTCi policyholders spend down to Medicaid.
Today’s 7.4 million current LTCi policyholders are expected to save the Medicaid program about $50 billion over their lifetimes. Annualized Medicaid savings per in-force policy are about $334.

The graphics in the report are great. They are straightforward and easy to understand, as is the report itself. If you would like to receive a copy of the entire report, email me at honey@honeyleveen.com.

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