Long Term Care In The News......

Volume 31

Welcome to the thirty-first 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.

CNA RATE INCREASE

CNA has announced a premium increase by State (approval) on their product portfolio for the following Non-TQ products: Con Care A & B, LTC 1, CT Partnership, Premier Classic, CA Partnership, IN Partnership, NY Partnership, and Preferred Advantage Non-TQ. This increase is the first for this product line and ranges from 10% to 50%. The increase will take effect on the first billing period after the date the State has approved the increase (MN, NY, PA and GA increase on anniversary date). CNA will notify the policyholders 30 to 60 days prior to the next billing date after the effective date of the increase. If you have clients who own one of these CNA products, you may want to contact them to alert them of the possibility of this premium increase. CCS believes all clients should think very carefully before canceling the valuable benefits they have earned because of a rate increase.

MEDAMERICA ANNOUNCES CHANGE TO NJ SIMPLICITY

At a time when carriers are announcing rate increases, and introducing new higher priced products, MedAmerica is stepping up to the plate in a very positive fashion. The Coordination of Benefits provision has been removed from the Simplicity DC Trust Certificate. The provision was removed because it is not consistent with the Simplicity product, which pays cash benefits. An amendatory rider to remove the provision has been approved by the Department of Insurance and is being mailed to insureds, who have the NJ Simplicity product in force. To receive a copy of this Amendatory Rider or for more information regarding MedAmerica’s Simplicity product, please contact us.

CCS STEPS INTO DISABILITY INSURANCE MARKET

Disability Insurance and Long-Term Care go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly and we are pleased to announce that we have expanded our product line to include top rated Disability carriers. CCS can now be your one-stop shop for all of your LTC and DI needs. We represent, Principal, Mass Mutual, Union Central and Guardian, just to name a few top DI carriers. This week, we will focus on Principal’s Individual DI product. Principal offers a Simplified process for Single and Multi-Life cases. No blood, urine, exams, EKGs or APSs required on a Single Life DI case less than $2500 per month in benefit. 48 hour turnaround once the application and TeleApp interviews are completed and received. The same simple process is available for multi-life DI cases as well, up to $3000 in benefits for employee paid and up to $4000 a month if employer paid. Do the math – when you simplify the sales process you can multiply your sales. Fast and easy ways to meet your clients personal and business disability insurance needs. Call us today for a quote on this or any of our competitive DI or LTC companies.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT AS WE SETTLE INTO THE NEW YEAR

The majority of agents only write a few Long-term care cases a year. The ethical, moral and fiduciary responsibility that we owe to our clients should be a “Call to Action” to include Long-term care planning as an integral part of our client’s complete financial portfolio. The financial benefits of increased first year commissions and ongoing renewal only adds to the benefits of doing a complete planning approach for your clients. Don’t look at Long-Term Care insurance as just a product, but instead look at LTCI as the solution to your client’s problem and part of a total plan. By the way – Is your own long term care plan in place? If not, what are you waiting for?

EQUITY INDEXED ANNUITIES GAIN FAVOR

A recent article in the WSJ indicates that the Equity-Indexed Annuties are catching on. In fact, sales in 2004 topped $22 Billion a 57% rise from the year before. Sales of EIA’s now account for one-quarter of all fixed annuity sales. The appeal for investors is that they can participate in upside with the stock market as well as limit their downside protection as most EIA’s have a floor of 0% so the client can NOT loose money unless they sell the annuity before maturity. For the broker, only a life license is required to sell these products and commission payouts can range between 4-12%. While most other equity instruments are tied to a broker-dealer, EIA’s are NOT and therefore the broker does not have to share their commission with their B/D making it a popular investment instrument. While every EIA is different, we suggest you learn about 1-2 carriers and keep up to date on them. CCS has contracts with ING, AmerUS, F& G, Allianz and American Equity to name a few. If you would like more information, please contact us.

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

C U S T O M   C A R E   S O L U T I O N ,   L L C

One Penn Plaza, Suite 2035
New York, New York 10119
info@customcaresolution.com

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