“There may be no financial protection product that is harder to market and sell today than long-term care insurance,” explains Jesse Slome, AALTCI’s organization’s executive director.  “Yet, professionals across the country passionately educate hundreds of thousands of individuals regardless of whether they ultimately purchase coverage.  We are so very proud to recognize the best of the best for their dedication as well as their success.”   Top honorees came from 10 different states and represented both large and small markets.

The industry awards recognize top long-term care insurance producers for sales in categories including individual placed premium, multilife long-term care insurance premium as well as LTC hybrid products.  The complete listing of award recipients is published in the Association’s 2012 Long-Term Care Insurance Sourcebook.

Several years ago, a new category was added to recognize producers who first began selling LTC insurance during the prior year.  “New producers represent the future growth of the long term care insurance industry,” Slome says.  “These rookies are entrepreneurs building their own businesses literally from scratch.”

2012 Top-10 Long-Term Care Insurance Producers (based on placed individual premium):

1.     Susie Caspar, Caspar Long Term Care Planning, Dover, MA
2.     Mary Ann DeKing, ACSIA Long-Term Care Inc., Darien, IL
3.     Jay Rosen, Rosen Insurance Agency, Wellington, FL
4.     Wayne Reynolds, ACSIA Long-Term Care Inc., Concord, OH
5.     Richard Brief, Long Term Care Resources, Warren, NJ
6.     Paul Isenberg, Long Term Care Insurance Advisors, Warwick, RI
7.     Gene Cutler, LTC Financial Partners, Manhasset, NY
8.     Geoff George, Northeast LTC, Westborough, MA
9.     Marlys Fiterman, Newman LTC, Richfield, MN
10.   Craig Swift, LTC Financial Partners, New York, NY

The 2012 Long-Term Care Insurance Rookie of the Year (individual placed premium)

Kim McDanal, Genworth Financial, Birmingham, AL

Established in 1998, the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance is the national association serving insurance and financial professionals who provide long-term care financing solutions.   For information on obtaining copies of the 2012 LTC Insurance Sourcebook call (818) 597-3227.

ACCESS TO ONLINE LISTINGS OF 2012 AWARD RECIPIENTS
State By State Ranking -  CLICK HERE

Rookie of the Year Ranking -  CLICK HERE

Complete Listing – National LTCi Sales Achievement Awards – Individual Premium  CLICK HERE

The Association’s annual study of leading insurers found that 53 percent of buyers of these hybrid policies were under age 65 in 2011 compared to only 48 percent in 2010.   Some 42.5 percent of male and 38.5 percent of female buyers were between ages 55 and 64 explains Jesse Slome, director of the national trade group.  Nearly one in 10 buyers was between 45 and 54.

“A linked benefit policy has advantages that many pre-retirement consumers find attractive,” Slome notes.  Policies can fund expenses when qualifying long-term care is needed at home or in a skilled care facility.  Some linked, or hybrid products, allow unused benefits to pass to named beneficiaries income tax-free.  “At a time when long-term care is increasingly top of mind, these life insurance-based solutions avoid the ‘use it or lose it’ risk associated with traditional long term care insurance,” says Chris Coudret, CLU, ChFC, Vice President, OneAmerica one of the nation’s leading insurers offering linked benefit solutions.  “In most cases, people make a single payment, effectively removing the risk of future premium increases.”

The AALTCI study reported sales for the participating linked benefit insurers increased 14 percent in 2011 and the premium increased almost 20 percent.  To learn more or obtain long term care insurance costs from an Association member call (818) 597-3227 or visit the organization’s website www.aaltci.org.

Established in 1998, AALTCI is the national trade organization established to create heightened awareness regarding the importance of planning for long term care.  To access or read three free consumer guides outlining ways to reduce costs for long-term care insurance visit the Association website http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance-costs/

“Insurers paid some $6.6 billion in benefits to roughly 200,000 individuals last year,” explains Jesse Slome, Executive Director of the industry trade group that compiled the data from 10 leading long term care insurers. “Long-term care insurance claims can last for years and amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The association annually collects data on claims including the largest open claims (still being paid as of December 31, 2011). The second largest claim still open is for a male who purchased his long-term care insurance policy paying an annual premium of $3,374. Three years later his claim began and has continued for just over six years ($1. 2 million in benefits has already been paid for his care).

“Long-term care insurance is not the lottery,” Slome says. “A policy holder who paid $3,000 in premiums and received benefits exceeding $1.5 million is not a winner. But having this protection in place can certainly pay off and for thousands of Americans it increasingly is.” According to the Association, just over 8 million Americans currently have some form of long-term care insurance protection in place.

One in 10 (10.4%) of new individual claims initiated during 2011 began before the claimant was age 70 the study revealed. “While most long-term care insurance claims begin at older ages, typically in ones late 70s or 80s, accidents and illnesses are also a common reason younger people need this care for extended periods,” Slome notes. The five most common reasons for a long-term care insurance claim, according to the Association, are Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, arthritis, circulatory issues or injury.”

Largest “Open” Long-Term Care Insurance Claims As Of December 31, 2011
Data from leading national long-term care insurance providers.
Credit: American Association for Long Term Care Insurance.

COMPANY A: Largest open claim: $1.7 million
Female — purchased insurance at age 43
Length of Claim: 14 years, 9 months
Insurance Policy Premium: $881-per-year
Time from Policy Purchase to Claim Inception: 3 years 0 months

COMPANY A: Largest open claim: $1.2 million
Male — purchased insurance at age 45
Length of Claim: 6 years, 1 month
Insurance Policy Premium: $3,374-per-year
Time from Policy Purchase to Claim Inception: 3 years 10 months

COMPANY B: Largest open claim: $1.12 million
Female – purchased insurance at age 56
Length of Claim: 12 years, 5 months
Insurance Policy Premium: $4,520-per-year
Time from Policy Purchase to Claim Inception: 0 years 3 months

COMPANY C: Largest open claim: $1.06 million
Female
Length of Claim: 9 years, 8 months
Insurance Policy Premium: $366-per-year
Time from Policy Purchase to Claim Inception: 4 years 4 months

COMPANY D: Largest open claim: $1.0 million
Female
Length of Claim: 6 years, 1 months
Time from Policy Purchase to Claim Inception: 2 years 8 months

COMPANY E: Largest open claim: $772,980
Female
Length of Claim: 10 years, 9 months
Insurance Policy Premium: $236-per-year
Time from Policy Purchase to Claim Inception: 5 years 11 months

COMPANY F: Largest open claim: $663,146
Male
Length of Claim: 5 years, 7 months
Insurance Policy Premium: $4,295-per-year
Time from Policy Purchase to Claim Inception: 2 years 9 months

“So much prospecting and selling is being done over the phone and Internet that insurance agents need generic, educational tools to provide prospects and clients,” explains Jesse Slome, AALTCI’s executive director.  The new e-brochures are personalized with the agent’s name, contact information and photo.  “Personalized material is so important in terms of making a lasting impression to the long term care insurance prospect,” Slome adds.
The Association’s first two e-brochures deal with timely topic and are updated versions of the Association’s highly used print brochures.  “One explains simple ways to reduce the cost of long-term care insurance,” Slome notes.  “Consumers today are very price conscious and producers are having great success breaking through the misperception that long-term care insurance is expensive.”

The second focuses on long term care planning for women.  “Women are typically the decision influencers and there are millions of adult women living alone who should be interested in the subject,” Slome says.

Over 2.5 million long term care insurance print brochures have been distributed by the Association since it was established in 1998.  “There still is a great need for printed material,” Slome acknowledges, “but we live in a digital age of instant communication so e-brochures that can be personalized will grow in usage and acceptance.”

The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance is the national trade organization exclusively focused on creating heightened consumer awareness and supporting insurance professionals who market long-term care solutions.

“No one likes to pay more so concern is understandable,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, an industry trade group representing several thousand specialists who market long term care insurance.  “But there is quite a bit of misinformation surrounding what’s taking place.”

To address the issue, the industry executive has been speaking with reporters, consumer representatives and making available association staff to discuss the matter with consumers.  Slome appeared today on Martha Stewart’s radio network to explain what’s taking place.

“Historic low interest rates are the primary culprit and the Federal Reserve has indicated it plans to keep rates this low for the foreseeable future,” Slome notes.  For every one-half percent drop in interest rates, a long-term care insurance company needs a 15 percent premium hike to build up the needed capital to pay future anticipated claims.

Regarding the need for rate increases on existing long term care insurance policies, Slome explains it is never a take it or leave it proposition for the consumer.   Insurers always offer an option by which the policyholder can continue to pay the same amount.

The Association executive points to a recent request for rate hike from a leading insurer.  Policies affected are those offering a five percent automatic compound or simple inflation coverage, where benefits automatically increase by five percent each year for the life of the policy.  “The company offers an option to reduce their future inflation percentage which allows people to avoid the rate increase altogether,” Slome says.

This is a prospective reduction in inflation; so all inflation additions previously applied to the policy will remain in place.  “There is no reduction of their current benefit level,” Slome points out.  “Only future inflation increases would be at a rate lower and the new inflation percentage offered as an option to customers will be in the range of 2.7% to 3.9%.”

Slome advises consumers with long term care insurance policies to speak with their agent regarding their concerns.  “The protection is still incredibly important for people to have and valuable to those who need it,” Slome one of the nation’s long term care insurance expert points out.   “Last year, insurers paid over $6 billion in benefits to some 200,000 individuals who own long term care insurance.  The largest open claim has surpassed $1.5 million and the policyholder paid less than $2,500 for their protection.”  Some eight million Americans currently have some form long term care insurance protection.

“Selling long-term care insurance provides people with the opportunity to help individuals and their families and, at the same time, earn what can be a significant income,” explains Jesse Slome, AALTCI’s executive director.  The Association created the online center as the result of increasing inquiries from individuals interested in learning more about career and sales opportunities.

According to AALTCI, over 1,000 people purchase long-term care insurance on a daily basis.  “The need for this protection is growing and sales would be higher if there were more skilled people available to market the product to individuals and employer groups,” Slome admits.  “The new center will provide meaningful but balanced information that will enable people to evaluate and decide if this is something they should pursue.”

The initial online center initially features a variety of audios addressing getting started in the business through what your first year should look like.  “We also provide sales and marketing information for insurance professionals who have unsuccessfully tipped a toe into the pool but wish to learn how to be successful,” Slome adds.  The organization plans to expand the center over time to address critical aspects for career success including the long-term care insurance industry’s first national job postings bulletin board.

Access to the online center is free of charge at www.aaltci.org/sell.   Established in 1998, the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance is the national trade organization exclusively focused on creating heightened consumer awareness and supporting insurance professionals who market long-term care solutions.

According to the 2012 National Long-Term Care Insurance Price Index published by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (www.AALTCI.org) prices for long-term care insurance policies currently being offered are between six and 17 percent higher than comparable coverage a year ago.   “Insurance prices have increased as a result of the historic low interest rates and yields on fixed income investments,” explains Jesse Slome, AALTCI’s executive director.  Between 40-and-60 percent of the dollars an insurer accumulates to pay future claims comes from investment returns.

The Association annually analyzes what consumers will pay for the most popular policies offered by 10 leading long term care insurance policies.   The study found that the average cost for a 55-year old single individual who qualified for preferred health discounts is $1,720 for between $165,000 and $200,000 of current coverage.  In 2011, the same coverage would have cost an average of $1,480 annually.

In addition to across the board increased rates, the Association found that the spread between the lowest cost and the highest cost policy had increased compared to the prior year.  “For the 55-year-old single policy applicant the highest price policy cost almost 80 percent more than the lowest priced policy,” Slome noted.  “For some categories, the difference was as much as 132 percent and no single company always had the lowest nor the highest rate which is why we stress the importance of comparison shopping.”

The Association study examined prices for single individuals age 55 as well as couples, ages 55, 60 and 65.  According to the report, a 60-year old couple purchasing the same level of protection ($340,000) could expect to pay about $3,335 -per-year if both spouses qualified for preferred health discounts.  The preferred health discount would save them approximately $500 compared to standard health rates and are a good incentive to act at younger ages, Slome points out.  “The available benefit pool for the 60-year-old couple would only grow to about $610,000 when the couple turns 80,” Slome notes.  “To have future coverage of $700,000, equal to what the 55-year-old couple would have, they will have to buy a higher, more expensive policy,” Slome explains.

The Association priced policies that included a three percent compound inflation growth factor.  “You want the value of the benefit you buy today to grow to keep pace with rising costs,” Slome noted.   A policy valued at $170,000 for each policyholder would grow to roughly $300,000 in 20 years. “Married couples have the option of buying policies with a “shared care rider” meaning the combined benefits can be used by either spouse or spouse or split between them.

“For roughly 15-to-25 percent more, instead of having having access to a benefit pool of $350,000, either spouse has access to a combined pool in excess of $700,000,” says Slome.  “The ability to purchase a more affordable shorter duration policy but have access to a much larger combined pool of dollars is easy to explain and of great value to the buyer.”

“Over 70 percent of people today buy a 3-to-5 year benefit period,” states Larry Moore, Director of Marketing for American Independent Marketing, a leading national marketer.   “When you factor in discounts available to couples, good health discounts and some of the lower-cost inflation options, long-term care insurance can be far more affordable than many people think.”

The complete 2012 Price Index will be published in the Association’s 2012 Long-Term Care Insurance Sourcebook.  For more information, visit the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance’s website at www.aaltci.org or call (818) 597-3227.

The Association will be placing a full-page advertorial into the May edition of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.  Part of the “Fresh Perspectives on Long-Term Care Planning” campaign, the message strives to overcome misperceptions held by consumers.

“We have been highly effective in delivering very specific messages to those consumers who are most likely to undertake long term care planning,” Jesse Slome, AALTCI’s executive director explains.  “Our strategy is to create awareness that directly deals with common misperceptions about long-term care insurance.”

The May campaign addresses the belief held by some consumers that if they cannot afford lifetime long-term care insurance, they forgo any coverage.  “We clearly state that this ‘all or nothing’ approach is rarely a good plan,” Slome notes.

“We also challenge the ‘one and done’ process that has been most long-term care insurance has been purchased,” Slome explains.   Options commonly available today including the Future Purchase Option make coverage more affordable and, as a result, will expand the potential market for sales.  “It is a planning approach that really is appropriate especially as the industry targets younger buyers,” Slome notes.

The AALTCI Fresh Perspectives campaign has been supported by Prudential and John Hancock.   The advertisements in Kiplinger’s magazine reach over one million readers.  In addition, the participating insurers offer reprints to their agents.

Established in 1998, the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance is the national trade organization focused on establishing heightened consumer awareness as well as supporting insurance professionals who market long term care solutions.

Prior consumer guides published by the Association focus on long term care insurance costs and can be accessed online at www.aaltci.org/guides.

According to Jesse Slome, executive director of AALTCI, the Partnership programs provide some very unique asset protection benefits designed to encourage more middle income individuals to undertake long term care planning.

Connecticut was one of the four original states to offer the special Long Term Care Partnership program, Slome explains.  New York, California and Indiana were the other three original states launched in the early 1990s.

“The Partnership program was originally made possible by grants from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation with the specific goal of making affordable long term care insurance protection available and attractive to as many individuals as possible,” Slome adds.

Connecticut residents are eligible for the program that can only be offered by approved insurers and licensed professionals who take part in special training.  The Association will be working closely with designated professionals to help consumers seeking information as well as cost proposals for this important protection.

The web address for the new website is http://www.connecticutpartnershiponly.com and provides the latest information on the program.   AALTCI recently posted a website for New York residents interested in partnership information.

Established in 1998, the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance is the national organization created to educate consumers about the importance of long term care planning and to support insurance professionals who market these products.

According to Jesse Slome, executive director of AALTCI, the Partnership programs provide some very unique asset protection benefits designed to encourage more middle income individuals to undertake long term care planning.

New York State was one of the four original states to offer the special Long Term Care Partnership program, Slome explains.  Connecticut, California and Indiana were the other three original states.

“The Partnership program was originally made possible by grants from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation with the specific goal of making affordable long term care insurance protection available and attractive to as many individuals as possible,” Slome adds.

New York residents are eligible for the program that can only be offered by approved insurers and licensed professionals who take part in special training.  The Association will be working closely with designated professionals to help consumers seeking information as well as cost proposals for this important protection.

The web address for the new website is http://www.newyorkpartnershiponly.com/ and provides the latest information on the program.

Established in 1998, the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance is the national organization created to educate consumers about the importance of long term care planning and to support insurance professionals who market these products.