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Long Term Care In The News......
October 4, 2005
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Volume 41
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Welcome to the forty-first edition of Long-Term
Care in the News. After a bit of a
summer hiatus, the news is back. 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. We are attaching the new MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Homes and
Home Care Costs for 2005. Please save this document as you might be
referred to someone out of state!!
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AN ACTUAL CASE STUDY!
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Recently, Custom Care Solution (CCS) was introduced to a
corporation through one of our brokers.
The agent had contacted CCS after their client had
inquired about long-term care insurance.
Not feeling overly confident about their LTC expertise, they
contacted the experts at CCS. Upon meeting with the executives, we
discovered that a few of them as well as their spouses may have some
medical issues that may preclude them from securing fully underwritten long
term care. We recommended a
Simplified Issue program so that we could insure those in question. The company decided to purchase the LTC insurance for all of
the executives and their respective spouses to the tune of about $68,000 in
annual premium that they are able to fully tax deduct because they happen
to be a C-Corporation with profits! In addition they made the discounted
insurance and simplified issue program available to the remaining employees
on a voluntary basis. CCS secured another
$10,000 in premium. After the
initial meeting, the broker left all of the follow-up in the hands of CCS and happily split the
case 50/50 with CCS. This is a true win-win for all
parties. Let us help you in this
very lucrative market and 100% tax-deductible market. Review your client database, find those
business owners and/or key executives and open the door to thousands of
dollars in commissions that stay on the books for years to come. Let CCS do the work for you
and you will reap tremendous financial rewards.
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NEW MINIMUM BENEFITS FOR PARTNERSHIPS
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This
is to notify you that the minimum benefit levels for all Partnership
products issued in Connecticut, Indiana and New
York will increase effective January 1, 2006. All Partnership policies with an issue
date after December 31, 2005 must be issued with
the new minimums. IMPORTANT: All policies with an issue date in 2006
must adhere to the minimums for 2006, even if the application was signed in
2005. Unless you are absolutely
certain that the policy will be issued in 2005, we recommend that you quote
your clients using the 2006 minimum benefit amounts. The 2006 minimums for CT are $159 NH
Daily Benefit/$79.50 Home Health Care.
The new minimums for New York are $189 Nursing Home
Daily Benefit and the minimums for Indiana are $110 Nursing Home
Daily Benefit. Also, please be aware
that all states require a broker to complete a Partnership Certification
course before being able to sell a Partnership product. For more information about any of these
products, please contact
us.
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HOUSE MEMBERS INTRODUCE LTC PARTNERSHIP BILL
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Recently, Representative Michael Burgess
(R-TX), introduced H.R. 3511, The Medicaid State Long Term Care Partnership
Act of 2005. H.R. 3511 would give
every state the option to establish a long-term care partnership
program. The Medicaid State Long
Term Care Partnerships are a public private partnership that incentives the
purchase of long-term care insurance and agreement with state Medicaid
program that once the benefits of these policies are exhausted the
beneficiary can protect some level of assets and become eligible for
Medicaid. H.R. 3511 benefits of
partnership policies are two fold:
the program provides incentives for individuals to purchase
long-term care insurance by providing them with dollar-for-dollar asset
protection should they ever rely on Medicaid after their policy is
exhausted and helps relieve pressure on state Medicaid programs where
long-term care expenses are growing exponentially. H.R. 3511 also establishes important
consumer protections. The bill
requires long-term care partnership policies to be tax-qualified, contain
inflation protection, and allow for reciprocity should a policyholder mover
to another state. With the
introduction of this bill, the long-term care debate is gaining momentum in
Congress. In order to build on this
momentum, we encourage you to contact your US Representative
immediately, urging his or her active support for this bill. You can do this very easily by joining
the Long Term Care Champions Network at www.ltcchampions.org. The more members of Congress sign onto this
legislation, the better chance it will pass.
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PRUDENTIAL LAUNCHES LTC3 IN NJ
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Prudential will launch its third generation
long-term care insurance product, LTC3 in NJ on October 26, 2005. LTC3 offers a number of new
benefits and riders that provide consumers with a wide range of choices to
design a policy to help meet their long-term care needs. All LTC3 policies include
international coverage, a calendar day elimination period, restoration of
benefits, and an alternate plan of care.
Every LTC3 policy also has a new
Cash Alternative feature that allows policyholders to elect a monthly cash
payment in lieu of reimbursement for services and does not require proof of
actual services for benefits be paid. Prudential has also created a new payment
option, Flexible Cash,that
allows a policyholder to be both reimbursed for claims submitted as well as
receive a monthly cash benefit in the same month. For more information about this exciting
new product, please contact
us.
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MET LIFE VIP2 LAUNCHES IN CALIFORNIA, CALIFORNIA PARTNERSHIP (CPLTC), TEXAS and NORTH CAROLINA
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The VIP2 Policy Series and
the California Partnership for Long-Term Care (“CPLTC”) Policies will be launched
in California on November 7, 2005. The VIP2 Policy Series to
Launch in Texas and North Carolina on November 7, 2005. All applications
for VIP1 must be received to us by November 4th, 2005.
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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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