LTC Insurance Archives - Page 15 of 17 - Long Term Care Insurance Expert | Honey Leveen

False LTCi Coverage Harms the Public

April 1, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

Main Stream Media (MSM) almost always casts Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCi) in a negative light. I seldom read an MSM article about LTCi that dispels myths.

The recent Prudential survey I blogged about on March 28, 2011 found that most people lack much factual information about LTCi. My experience with clients strongly supports the survey findings.

Knowledge is power. Lack of knowledge leads to fear and LTCi bashing. What a disservice this is to the public.

Lately, for example, the media seem to enjoy harping on the withdrawal of Met Life and others from the LTCi marketplace. They fail to mention that companies like LifeSecure and Humana are entering the LTCi marketplace. We’re obviously in a harsh economy, and many companies across all industries are withdrawing from markets or closing down. But today’s economy has not caused a single LTCi carrier to go belly up and default on its obligation to policyholders. MSM doesn’t mention this. Rarely have I seen MSM articles describe how beautifully LTCi pays even though such stories are abundant.

Another common thing MSM does to cast LTCi in a bad light is to refer to LTCi as expensive. Simple math that anyone can do on a calculator shows that if or when long-term care is needed, policyholders typically re-coup every dollar paid in premium within a few months. LTCi premiums are far more stable than those of other insurance policies. Contemporary LTCi may have rate hikes but they are uncommon and limited by the regulatory authorities. So which is preferable? Paying affordable LTCi premiums regularly and being able to access the long-term care of your choice, or hemorrhaging savings to pay for care?

Why does MSM like to diss the LTCi industry so much? I believe it’s mostly due to lack of knowledge, which in turn leads to fear.

I encourage you to visit www.honeyleveen.com and go to the References page. You will find links to several reputable sites that provide accurate statistics and information about LTCi.

New York Times Describes Need for LTCi

March 31, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

A March 23, 2001 New York Times article titled “Reaching Retirement Goals After Long-Term Neglect” by Carmen Wong Ulrich describes the more and more common situation of parents needing to move in with children.

This article describes a 52 year-old Baby Boomer who has not done adequate financial planning. In addition, her 89 year-old mother now lives with her.

While framing her story with this true, firsthand scenario, Ms. Wong Ulrich reports accurately on the necessity of owning long-term care insurance (LTCi).

Prudential Releases New Survey

March 28, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

A new consumer survey from Prudential called Long-Term Care Insurance: A Piece of the Retirement and Estate Planning Puzzle” was released in March 2011. This survey may be more useful to financial and other professional advisors than to the general public. Such advisors need to be aware that they are often as guilty of wanting to avoid a conversation about responsible LTC planning as the general public. Avoidance of this discussion can prove to be quite harmful to the people they strive to serve with excellence.

This survey shows that the public is concerned about the possible need for long-term care (LTC) but they still want to put off discussing LTC planning until retirement. In other words, the survey illustrates people’s denial of their possible need for LTC and their desire to avoid discussing it.

The survey also shows that misinformation about LTC insurance and LTC planning abounds.

I see and hear misinformation about LTC insurance all the time.

This survey echoes the observations I make on this blog. For me, it’s a constant source of sadness and frustration that people’s denial of their need for care makes them avoid conversing about responsible LTC planning.

CLASS Act LTC Rests on Sickbed

February 23, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

My colleagues and I, across the board in the long-term care industry, ranging from advisors like me to the leading actuaries, have been saying for a few years now that the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (or CLASS) Act is unsustainable.

CLASS Act long-term care (LTC) is part of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s legacy in the new health care law, intended to allow the chronically ill and people with disabilities to continue living in their homes.

A story in the February 22 New York Times titled, “Long-Term Care Needs Changes, Officials Say” reports that officials in the Obama administration finally agree with what we’ve been trying to tell them all this time: in its current state, CLASS Act LTC is not viable. It will not attract the number of enrollees projected, it will be a magnet for what we call “adverse selection” (people who are ineligible, due to their health, for conventional long-term care insurance) and it cannot stay in the black.

This article is excellent. It explains why CLASS Act LTC in its current form is “a dog that will not hunt.”

Another Harmful Article on long-term care (LTC)

January 28, 2011 by Honey Leave a Comment

Checking my Google alerts for long-term care (LTC) mentions, I found this useful and correct piece by Terry Savage, someone I greatly respect because she researches thoroughly (“Long-term care combined with life insurance solves problems,” Chicago Sun Times, January 24, 2011).

Then I came across this harmful piece by Anne Teregesen of the Wall Street Journal (“The latest long-term-care snafu,” Wall Street Journal, Personal Finance, January 22, 2011.) Here’s what I had to say to her:

Dear Ms Teregesen,

While you got your info correct in this recent article, it is a pity that you chose to place all the emphasis in this piece on old policies without mentioning that policies placed from the 90’s on don’t have these restrictions and work like a charm. Furthermore, the number of these old-old policies is small – a point you also failed to mention. Rather than “spook” consumers away and give them one more reason to procrastinate and not have a conversation about responsible LTC planning, I wonder why you could not have at least mentioned that the statistics are that over 95% of all LTC claims get paid. Normally, the reasons LTC claims don’t get paid are that trigger criteria aren’t met or the claim is incomplete. If the claim is incomplete or incorrect, we correct it, re-submit, and the claim gets paid. The claims process is pretty uncomplicated. It’s becoming quite routine for home health agencies and assisted living facilities to complete claim paperwork. There are plenty of sources for these facts that you failed to use. So now you have one more column with a negative spin on responsible LTC planning. You have further discouraged the vast wave of Baby Boomers, who are already ill prepared and who will probably need lots of long-term care in a giant bulge, from considering reasonably priced LTC. Because of your inadequate research, you have done the public a bad service.

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False LTCi Coverage Harms the Public

New York Times Describes Need for LTCi

Prudential Releases New Survey

CLASS Act LTC Rests on Sickbed

Another Harmful Article on long-term care (LTC)

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