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Long Term Care In The News......
July 29, 2005
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Volume 40
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Welcome to the fortieth 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.
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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
METLIFE’S VIP 2 APPROVED IN NEW YORK!!!!!
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We just received word that MetLife has received
VIP2 approval in New York and Montana. All VIP applications must be
signed and dated by August
29, 2005
and must be received at the Home Office by September 12. The New York Partnership and Multi-life cases
in NY will continue to be the old VIP product until further
notice. The new VIP 2 will include the Value,
Ideal and Premier products but have been enhanced and will offer the
following competitive riders:
- Calendar
Day Elimination Period
- Home
Care Elimination Period Waiver
- Return
of Premium
- Restoration
of Benefits
- Survivorship
- Shared
Care
- Indemnity
(on Value only)
The new VIP 2 will be more expensive
than the current product so if you have client’s who have not made their
buying decision, NOW is the time to take
action as their premiums will never be lower than they are right now. Please contact
us for more information or to have us help you close your
sales.
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MED AMERICA UNDERWRITING CHANGES & NEW AGGREGATE MAXIMUM DISCOUNT
EFFECTIVE 8/5/05
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Med
America announced changes
recently to their preferred health discount and care partner discounts. All
applications signed on August, 5, 2005 and after, will
receive an aggregate maximum discount capped at 40% for all states except
NY, which will be 20% and CT which will be capped at 30%. PLEASE NOTE THAT NEW YORK WILL NOT BE AFFECTED BY THESE CHANGES UNTIL
THE DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE APPROVES THEM WHICH WILL NOT BE BY AUGUST 5. Keep an eye out for future announcements
regarding this change in New York. This change effectively limits the care
partner discount if the client qualifies for the 15% preferred discount.
Currently, the discounts are stacked together without any caps. However,
after August 5th, all applications will be capped at their
particular states maximum discount level. For example, if you have two
healthy clients applying together in NJ, that would qualify for the 15%
preferred health discount, their care partner discount will only be 25%,
giving them a total of 40%. All applications received between now and
August 4th will be given the stacked discounts! Please note that
the Affiliation discount as well as the employer program discount will not
be affected and will continue to stack on top of the stated state discount.
On
August 1st, 2005 Med America will be
changing the face-to-face requirements. The face-to-face mandatory threshold
will be raised from $7200 to $9300 per monthly benefit. However, they will
continue to conduct a face-to-face interview for all lifetime benefit
periods regardless of the monthly benefit amount..
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ANOTHER LTCi
CARRIER HAS LEFT THE MARKET
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As announced in a previous email communication,
Lincoln Benefit Life has announced that as of October 31, 2005, Long Term Care Insurance will no
longer be a part of its product portfolio.
Agents working in the corporate market sold LBL’s
Ten Pay and Return of Premium rider.
Corporations like to buy Ten-Pay policies for their executives for
the tax deductions and executives like the ability to receive all the
premiums back that the employer paid.
If you have been writing LBL or are currently selling in the
corporate market we would like to bring your attention to other carriers
that we are aware of that you can consider:
John Hancock, MetLife, MedAmerica and Mass Mutual. For more information about any of these
carriers, please contact
us.
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PRUDENTIAL LTC3 ON IT’S WAY
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Prudential has launched its third generation
long-term care insurance product, LTC3 in many states
including Connecticut which was just
approved on June 6 and we hear NJ & NY are soon to be approved. LTC3 offers a number of
new benefits and riders that provide consumers with a wide range of choices
to design a policy to meet their long-term care needs. All LTC3 policies include a
calendar day elimination period, restoration of benefits and an alternate
plan of care as well as a cash alternative built into each contract that allows
policyholders to elect a 40% monthly cash payment in lieu of reimbursement
for services. The insured can flip back and forth on a month to month basis
depending on whether they have receipts for professional services or
not. Prudential has also created a
new 50/50 flexible (+35%) cash option that allows a policyholder to be both
reimbursed for claims submitted as well as receive a monthly cash benefit
in the same month. Lastly, they
continue to have a 100% cash benefit which will now be limited to 10 years
maximum. To learn more about this exciting new long-term care insurance
product or for a complete list of state approvals, please contact us.
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SPOTLIGHT ON JOHN HANCOCK’S CORPORATE SOLUTIONS
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John Hancock’s Corporate Solutions Program is
designed to help small businesses provide individual long term care
insurance to key employees on an employer pay or voluntary pay basis. It also gives producers the flexibility
to design a customized plan that meets the unique needs of each
business. Through the program small
businesses are able to give their employees access to an important benefit
while taking advantage of tax benefits – making it a winning situation for
the employee and the business owner.
In addition, the John Hancock product includes unique benefits
geared toward the younger market, including; double accident benefit and
additional cash benefit. Corporate
Solutions is also available on a Simplified or Fully underwritten
basis. If you are interested in
learning more about this competitive product please contact us to receive your Marketing
Guide.
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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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