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Long Term Care In The News......
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Volume 25
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Welcome to the twenty fifth edition of
Long-Term Care in the News. We, at
Custom Care Solution, LLC, want you to be on the cutting edge of changes
and updates within the Long-Term Care industry. We will accomplish this through these
email bulletins distributed each week to our brokers, agents and their
staffs.
SEMINAR REMINDER—
October 28th, CCS Is holding a Multi-Life Seminar from 4-6PM at One Penn Plaza, NYC. Limited Seats Are Available. Please contact us to reserve your
seat now!!
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GEAR UP FOR SIMPLICITY’S ROLL-OUT IN FLORIDA
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It is with pleasure that we wish to inform you
that MedAmerica’s new flagship product, Care
Directions Simplicity, will be available for sale on November 1, 2004 in Florida. Please note the following Florida variations in the
options and riders: 24 month
lifetime maximum not available, Reduced Premium at 65 or 70 not available,
Return of Premium and Full Return of Premium are not available. For more information about Simplicity –
remember it’s Cash, not Confusion, please contact us.
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METLIFE MMI 2004 MARKET
SURVEY NURSING & HOME CARE
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According to a recently released survey from
the MetLife Mature Market Institute, nursing home costs now average $70,080
per year for a private room or $192 daily. That’s a 6% increase from 2003.
With the length of a nursing home stay averaging 2.4 years, the average
cost of a stay now stands at a whopping $168,192. The lowest rates were in Shreveport, Louisiana; while the
highest were in Alaska. Currently, approximately 1.6 million people reside in 18,000
nursing homes in the United States. 10% are under 65 years of age, while 46.5% are 85 or older. 72% of
these residents are women and 75% require assistance with three of more ADLs. As for home health care, the same MetLife
sponsored survey reported the average hourly cost of a home health aide
unchanged at $18 since 2003. In the year 2000, more than 1.3 million
patients received home health care services from 7,200 agencies, with more
than half receiving help with at least one ADL. 70% were ages 65 and older
and 65% were women. For a complete copy of
the report, please contact us.
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GE NEW PRODUCT REMINDER
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Genworth Financial’s
Long Term Care Division, a leader in long term care insurance, is proud to
announce the addition of New York, New York Partnership, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Indiana, Indiana Partnership and Massachusetts to the list of states
able to sell its newest products, Privileged Choice and Classic
Select. These products will be
available for sale Monday, November
1, 2004. With this launch, these products will be
available for sale everywhere except
California and California
Partnership. Privileged Choice is
their premier product combining innovation with rich, built-in benefits,
making it one of the most comprehensive products in the industry
today. It is competitively priced
for couples and includes many new features and benefits. Classic Select features a modular design
so that you can customize a long term care insurance plan to meet your
customers’ specific needs. It is a
great low-cost alternative for singles and gives you a competitive edge in
today’s market. Note that GE’s Home Office will not accept applications for the current product in
NY, PA, MD, IN, and MA after Friday, December 3. Please contact
us today for more information.
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NY ATTORNEY GENERAL SUES
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According to an article printed in the October
14 edition of Newsday, New York Attorney General Eliot
Spitzer sued insurance giant Marsh & McLennan and implicated American
International Group and several others Thursday, alleging brokers have been
taking payoffs from insurance companies to steer corporate clients their
way rather than get the best prices for policies, as they are required. The victims were mostly large
corporations who were deceived into buying property and casualty coverage
that may have cost more, but also included small and mid-size businesses,
municipal governments, school districts and individuals, Spitzer said. Spitzer announced the civil suit against
March & McLennan Cos of New
York, the nation’s leading insurance brokerage
firm, accusing it of steering clients to insurers for lucrative payoffs
under long-standing agreement. The
firm collected $800 million in so-called contingent commissions in 2003
alone, investigators said. Spitzer
also accuses the company of soliciting rigged bids for insurance
contracts. For more information
regarding this action please visit http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2004/oct/oct14a_04.html
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--insuranceprobe1014oct14,0,7309353,print.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
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WALL STREET JOURNAL LTC ARTICLE
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If you missed it, the October 13 edition of the
Wall Street Journal contained an article entitled “The Flawed, Expensive
Insurance Policy That You Really Ought to Consider.” It indicates that people age 50 and older
should at least consider long-term care insurance. It further explains that the prime
candidates for insurance are people in the middle, those who are neither
impoverished nor sitting on seven-figure investment portfolios. The article also points out five factors
to consider when purchasing long-term care insurance. Some negative factors are also mentioned
with regard to carriers who have had rate increases. The bottom line is that long-term care is
a very hot topic, one that is being mentioned consistently in several major
periodicals. For a complete copy of
this article, please contact
us.
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We at CCS are continually looking
for ways to keep our brokers up to date. If you’d like to send comments or
suggestions to make this newsletter better, please feel free to contact us.
 
Debra A. Walker, LTCP, CLTC Karin
L. Wertheim, LTCP, CLTC
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C U S T O
M C A R E S O L U T I O N ,
L L C
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One Penn
Plaza, Suite 2035
New York, New York 10119
info@customcaresolution.com
8 8 8 - 8 6 0 - 6
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