Global warming Archives - Long Term Care Insurance Expert | Honey Leveen

Denial of the Facts Does Not Make Them Less True

October 10, 2018 by Honey Leveen Leave a Comment

Resistance to planning for long term care and doubting that human activities have created global warming share some very interesting roots. What a revelation to me! Author Karie Marie Norgaard connected these dots in her book, Living in Denial.

In the book, Norgaard examines the thought processes behind those who choose to deny the existence of climate change. I read an essay by Andy Skuce in which he takes a deep dive into Norgaard’s research and understanding about Denial.

Types of Denial

The book divides denial into 3 categories:

Literal denial. This happens when people don’t trust the facts, even when overwhelmingly supported by objective and thorough scientific data. We often see this from “Climate Skeptics”.
Interpretive denial. This one gets slippery. It accepts the facts (climate change is real), but reinterprets the meaning so it doesn’t sound like a real threat. That removes their responsibility to make proactive changes, since it’s not a real problem.
Implicatory denial. In this case, the facts and the interpretations are generally accepted. But then, “the psychological, political or moral implications that conventionally follow” are discounted and ignored. Climate change is already too advanced for anyone to do anything about it, so I’m off the hook and don’t have to make hard choices.

Denying the Need for Long Term Care

If these thought processes sound familiar, these are exactly the same behaviors I’ve been writing about throughout my career as a Long Term Care Insurance Specialist. Let’s run through these again:

Literal denial. Not trusting the facts — No matter how many studies get funded, no matter how may reports get written. There are always going to be people who refuse to accept that they are probably going to need financial help to cover their future medical care.
Interpretive denial. Accepting the facts: Yes, we’re living longer. Yes, we’ll probably need help in our later years. BUT… we’ve always taken care of each other. Or our family is ready to step in to help. We’ll be fine.
Implicatory denial. I know, we’ve got some uncertain times ahead of us. BUT… ‘they’ say that there’s no real reliable coverage. Or it costs too much. What can I do at this point?

For almost 30 years I’ve had well-educated, affluent friends and acquaintances make excuses to avoid the conversation 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.

Denial is not a river in Egypt and the first step is easy. Click here to receive your no-obligation quote on your own Long Term Care insurance plan.

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.

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Denial of the Facts Does Not Make Them Less True

Types of Denial

Denying the Need for Long Term Care

Denial is a Curious Beast

We Are In A Slow Cooker

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

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