VA - Long Term Care Options

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Helping You Sell More LTCI™

December 2007

It’s Time to Choose

In the past I have traditionally taken the month of December as a time to encourage you to evaluate your year’s work and set your mind and thoughts on what you hope to accomplish in the coming year - to lay hold of all the things that have been effective for you and set aside those which weren’t. And while I firmly believe those practices have significant benefit, this year I am going to focus on something different. This year, I want to speak to you about a choice we will all be called to make regarding LTCI. Some of you have already been required to make that choice; others will be making it over the next few months and the remainder over the next 18 months. I am talking about whether you will choose to continue selling long-term care insurance.

For those of you who work in states that have already adopted the new NAIC-DRA LTCI Partnership training requirement, you know of what I am speaking. For those not already aware, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) expanded to all states the ability to adopt state partnerships for long-term care. In response, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has developed model long-term care insurance sales training requirements designed to ensure that all agents selling LTCI possess the knowledge and understanding to properly represent consumers.

The new Long-Term Care Partnership Program has already been approved by 14 states (for a total of 18, if you include the four original partnership states of CA, CT, IN and NY which were grandfathered in). Two additional states have State Amendment Plans pending approval. In states that adopt Partnership Programs, agents will be required to meet LTCI training requirements to be eligible to sell the state’s partnership plan. Further, many states are also adopting new NAIC long-term care insurance competency standards which must be met before agents can sell even traditional LTCI. While these requirements vary by state, most states are requiring between 2 and 8 hours. Some require the training to be approved continuing education, while others do not. Suffice it to say that if you wish to sell LTCI in the future, you will be required to meet some level of new LTCI training requirements.

Last year SellingLTC.com joined with LTC Consultants and created LTCiTraining.com to help agents easily meet new educational and training requirements. Together Phyllis Shelton and I have trained over 80,000 financial professionals and equipped them with the knowledge of how to successfully compete in the LTCI market. Our goal is not only to ensure you receive this required training, but also that you walk away with knowledge and ideas you can put to work immediately in your LTCI practice. You can visit our website at www.ltcitraining.com to learn what’s happening in your state. While you are there you can also register to be notified when your state requirements go into effect.

Why the Change?
The Federal Government understands it clearly cannot meet America’s future long-term care needs so it is encouraging everyone to take personal responsibility by purchasing LTCI. As part of this effort, every agent selling the product is required to undergo long-term care insurance training; this is to help instill confidence in consumers that they are dealing with competent professionals who can help them with the difficult decisions surrounding long-term care planning and long-term care insurance. Essentially, the government wants to ensure that agents who are selling LTCI truly are equipped to adequately assist consumers. A big part of having confidence in long-term care insurance is having confidence in the men and women who sell it.

Time to Get Off the Fence
Until now financial professionals have been allowed to jump in and out of the market as they please. It’s been estimated that 52% of long-term care insurance policies are sold by “incidental producers,” someone who sells less than four polices a year. If you are an incidental producer, you must now decide whether you are in or out. Whether you want to or not, you now must choose: either meet the educational requirements needed to even discuss LTCI with your clients, or leave the market.

Get in All the Way
It’s unfortunate but the “take it or leave it” or “I just don’t bother to offer it” attitude by some financial professionals is why many consumers don’t give LTCI the important planning consideration it deserves. They easily assume the position that if it isn’t important to my financial planner or insurance agent, why should it be important to me? If you think about it, what other conclusion should they draw? After all, they expect us to take the lead in offering advice that is in their best interest.

Further, there are those who understand the importance of what they do and make certain they are accomplished and educated professionals, but they leave their obligations right there. The next step for these professionals, for all of us, is to get involved, all the way. We make our living in this industry; it’s time we all started to give something back. Because for better or worse, right or wrong, we’re involved in a very difficult industry. Selling long-term care insurance isn’t for the faint of heart, regardless of whether it’s among the most regulated insurance products, or that consumers’ don’t perceive the need, or consumers live in denial, or the costs are “too high.” Whatever the reason or reasons, selling LTCI is a tough job and it’s going to take all of us giving back to the industry if we want to make it better.

For instance, I have been championing the value and importance of LTCI for nearly 20 years. I have volunteered to speak and train at industry trade shows, supported organizations which fight publicly for LTCI, and published this monthly sales tip which is distributed to over 30,000 financial professionals each month for the past 5 years. For nearly 8 years, SellingLTC.com has provided educational, marketing and presentation tools to better equip financial professionals for success in this growing market. I don’t say this to pat myself on the back but simply to illustrate that if you have a vested interest in something, you should support it. In fact there are many great individuals and organizations out there who fight the good fight every single day.

Organizations Working on Your Behalf
The Center for Long-Term Care Reform and President, Steve Moses have been fighting the good fight on both state and federal levels for years. The Center promotes universal access to top-quality long-term care by encouraging private financing and discouraging welfare financing of long-term care for most Americans. Steve publishes and speaks throughout the United States on public versus private financing of long-term care and related issues. He is currently preparing for a 2008 Long-Term Care Consciousness Tour in which he will travel the country to carry the Center’s message of personal responsibility for long-term care. SellingLTC.com is proud to support Steve’s tour stop in Atlanta, GA in February 2008. Visit the Center’s website at www.centerltc.com to find out more about the tour and how you can support Steve’s efforts on our industry’s behalf.

Another group is the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) under the leadership of Executive Director, Jesse Slome. The AALTCI is a national organization that promotes the importance of planning for long-term care needs. Jesse was instrumental in the House of Representatives passage of a bill recognizing National Long-Term Care Awareness Week this past November and helping to promote a change in the language contained in annual Social Security Statements mailed to millions of recipients which now advises consumers that Medicare does not pay for long-term care and that they may want to consider private insurance for this purpose. SellingLTC.com is a supporting member of AALTCI. To learn more about what AALTCI is doing visit their website at www.aaltci.org.

We All Have a Vested Interest in LTCI
It’s time we all get involved. We cannot continue to leave all the work to the Jesse and Steve and a handful of others. I’m not suggesting we all need to organize national rallies, but we do need to take steps now to help make their jobs, and all of our jobs, easier. For instance, when an unfavorable or inaccurate article or story about long-term care is published in a newspaper, or on a local television station, or in Consumer Reports, or The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times, they should hear from hundreds, if not thousands of financial professional. Don’t sit back and say someone else will respond, take the initiative and lead the way… ask your colleagues to respond as well. Let them know there are people who understand how important LTCI is in protecting families. Let them hear about LTCI in a positive light.

What’s the Point?
The point is as financial professionals we are a part of something bigger than ourselves. The products, services, and advice that we offer have the potential to affect families for generations to come. Long-term care insurance is an important part of that equation. We need to ensure that private solutions for long-term care remain available for our clients. We cannot allow long-term care protection to be absorbed into an overused, under-funded government program like Medicare, as some Presidential candidates are suggesting. Let’s begin 2008 with a new determination to promote a stronger national understanding regarding the positive side of LTCI. Together we can ensure that the only voices heard when it comes to LTCI are not the negative sensationalistic voices of The New York Times, Consumer Reports, Condo Commandos, and Editorial Page Armchair Financial Advisors.

Choose to get in all the way!

Put our LTCI sales tools to work for you... they have helped thousands of salespeople reach new levels of sales success. To preview our other products or learn more about how we can help you increase your LTCI sales, visit us today at www.sellingLTC.com or give us a call at 1.877.603.2771.

Good Selling!

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