November is National Long-Term Care Awareness Month and it is a great time to bring potential limited and extended care planning needs top-of-mind with your clients. It is important for every comprehensive financial plan to include LTC considerations. So even if LTC insurance is not your primary line of business, Long-Term Care Awareness Month gives you a good opportunity to get clients up to speed.

A study conducted by OneAmerica found that 46% of financial professionals do not recommend long-term care (LTC) protection to their clients.

The study highlights a potential gap in helping clients prepare financially for potential LTC expenses. It is estimated that almost 70% of individuals over the age of 65 will require LTC services at some point in their lives, making LTC protection an important aspect of retirement planning.

Washington State’s “Washington Cares Fund” (WCF) imposes an uncapped 0.58% employee-paid payroll tax ($580 per $100,000 earned) to fund a $36,500 lifetime pool (intended to inflate, beginning in 2027, according to WA’s consumer price index) for long-term care received in WA by vested employees. A claimant must require help with at least 3 activities of daily living (11 ADLs are listed on WCF’s website).

Steve Cain is a self-described “LTC insurance nerd” dedicated to being a lifelong learner and advocating for Main Street USA.

Getting Started

A 25-year veteran of the insurance industry, Cain started his insurance career after playing two years of minor league baseball. When he returned home to Los Angeles, he took a temporary job providing support for a company specializing in long-term care (LTC) insurance. He learned about LTC from his job, but he learned its value from watching his mother handle LTC events for both of her parents. He saw the impact dealing with LTC without proper planning had on her and knew he needed to help families like his own.

A new report from the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) finds that private long-term-care insurance (LTCI) can save Medicaid $47.7 billion and reduce consumers’ out-of-pocket expenses to pay for care by $69 billion. The report, “Who Will Pay for Our Long-Term Care,” also shows that women are at a higher risk of needing long-term care than men.

One out of every four adults would rather go to the dentist than talk about their long-term-care (LTC) or aging needs.

My grandfather had a long-term-care event late in his life, which lasted for about five years.  Even at a young age, I saw how much this event affected not only my grandfather, but also our family and loved ones around him.  Because he didn’t have any long-term-care insurance coverage, you could see the strain it put on the family both emotionally and financially.  Unfortunately, when he was healthy enough to purchase long-term-care insurance, nobody talked to him about the solutions that were out there and how important they would be to him, should he ever have a need.

November is Long-Term-Care Awareness month, a time when the spotlight is on long-term-care insurance (LTCI) and the critical role it can play in your clients’ lives.

November is Long-Term Care Insurance Awareness Month, making it the perfect time to reach out to your clients to start an LTCI conversation. And it’s not as hard as you might think.

Genworth's 2013 Beyond Dollars: A Way Forward study, highlights the fact that adequately planning for long-term care can potentially save money and reduce the stress that is faced by caregivers. In fact, families could save nearly $11,000 annually if long-term-care plans were made earlier.