Long Term Care Insurance E-Brochures Launched

The first generic long term care insurance e-brochures designed to support insurance agents prospecting and sales efforts have been created by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. 

“So much prospecting and selling is being done over the phone and Internet that insurance agents need generic, educational tools to provide prospects and clients,” explains Jesse Slome, AALTCI’s executive director.  The new e-brochures are personalized with the agent’s name, contact information and photo.  “Personalized material is so important in terms of making a lasting impression to the long term care insurance prospect,” Slome adds.

The Association’s first two e-brochures deal with timely topic and are updated versions of the Association’s highly used print brochures.  “One explains simple ways to reduce the cost of long-term care insurance,” Slome notes.  “Consumers today are very price conscious and producers are having great success breaking through the misperception that long-term care insurance is expensive.”

The second focuses on long term care planning for women.  “Women are typically the decision influencers and there are millions of adult women living alone who should be interested in the subject,” Slome says.

Over 2.5 million long term care insurance print brochures have been distributed by the Association since it was established in 1998.  “There still is a great need for printed material,” Slome acknowledges, “but we live in a digital age of instant communication so e-brochures that can be personalized will grow in usage and acceptance.”

           

The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance is the national trade organization exclusively focused on creating heightened consumer awareness and supporting insurance professionals who market long-term care solutions.

Smoking And Weight Tied To Future Brain Shrinkage, Increased Long Term Care Insurance Need

Smoking, having high blood pressure or diabetes and being overweight during your middle years may cause brain shrinkage and lead to cognitive problems up to a decade later.

According to a new study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology these factors appear to cause the brain to lose volume. Some 38.7 million Americans age 65 and older reported having one or more cognitive disorders according to the 2011 Long-Term Care Insurance Almanac published by the American Association for long-Term Care Insurance.

Health conditions increased the development of lesions secondary to presumed vascular injury, and also appeared to affect its ability to plan and make decisions as quickly as 10 years later. The findings provide evidence that identifying these risk factors early in people of middle age could be useful in screening people for at-risk dementia and encouraging people to make changes to their lifestyle before it's too late.

The study involved over 1,300 people without dementia with an average age of 54. Participants had body mass and waist circumference measures taken and were given blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes tests. They also underwent brain MRI scans over the span of a decade, the first starting about seven years after the initial risk factor exam. Participants with stroke and dementia at baseline were excluded, and between the first and last MRI exams, 19 people had a stroke and two developed dementia.

Researchers found that people with high blood pressure developed small areas of vascular brain damage, at a faster rate than those with normal blood pressure readings. They also had a more rapid worsening of scores on tests of executive function, or planning and decision making, corresponding to five and eight years of chronological aging respectively.

People with diabetes in middle age lost brain volume in the hippocampus at a faster rate than those without diabetes. Smokers lost brain volume overall at a faster rate than nonsmokers and were also more likely to have a rapid increase in white matter hyperintensities.

"Unhealthy habits come back to haunt millions at older ages," explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the long term care insurance association. "It creates an increased risk of needing long term care in your 80s and 90s a reason why planning prior to retirement is a must especially for those still in good health."

Long Term Care Insurance Women Planning Matters

Long term care insurance planning for women is vitally important. Women have the greatest need for long-term care. Women receive 65 percent of all benefit payments from individual long-term care insurance. Women who are married can benefit from significant spousal discounts. Women living alone pay the exact same for long-term care insurance protection as men (even though they are far more likely to gain a benefit from their coverage).

Consumers seeking free information or no-obligation quotes for this protection should visit the Consumer Information Center of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.

This consumer education video has been produced by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, the industry's professional trade organization.

New Consumer Guide Addresses Women's Long-Term Care Planning Issues

A new consumer guide to long-term care insurance protection has just been published by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. The eight-page booklet specifically addresses the issues and options facing women.

"Women have a far greater risk of needing long-term care and indeed two-thirds of all long-term care insurance benefits paid in 2008 result from care needs by women," explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the national trade organization. "Women also tend to be the ones who initiate the long-term care planning discussion and often are the decision makers when it comes to purchasing long-term care insurance."

Several facts outlined in the "Woman's Guide To Long-Term Care Insurance Protection" authored by Jesse Slome: Women over the age of 65 comprise 980,000 nursing home residents in the U.S. Only 337,000 men over age 65 are in nursing homes. Women are far more likely to suffer from Alzheimer's Disease which is the cause of the largest and most costly needs for long-term care.

The guide addresses important planning considerations for women who have spouses or partners as well as women who live alone. "Each have very specific planning needs and issues," Slome explains. "Married women face a likelihood of providing care for their spouse, who typically is older, or facing a very significant annual bill for care." Women who live alone lack the spouse or extended family members to assist with caregiving.

Copies of the guide can be viewed on the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance's website and may be purchased by insurance and financial professionals. To view a copy go to: http:www.aaltci.org/tools or call the organization at 818-597-3227.

Will The "Kennedy Legacy" Kill The Long-Term Care Insurance Industry

Will the (Ted) Kennedy Legacy - a healthcare plan that includes provisions for a government-offered long-term care insurance provision - kill the private long-term care insurance industry?

The stort answer is, yes it indeed could. After all, what a sweet proposal - pay $65 a month ($780 a year) for five years ($3,900) and you've got long-term care coverage. And, you don't even need to health qualify. Everyone qualifies.

If you don't think there's already interest, just do a Google search for "Kennedy long term care". As a long-time and highly successful public relations guys, I know how I would spin this story to the media and thus to consumers. "We can do this because of mass numbers, and because we are cutting out those pesky middlemen - the long-term care insurers and the commissions paid to agents which can be as much as ..." (I won't go on ... why make life easy for them ... though they have bright minds working on this).

Best of all, this is the perfect time to make something like this happen. Insurers are happy to be surviving (who isn't these days) ... and agents aren't organized. The Washington D.C.-based insurance lobbying groups have to contend with health insurance and you really don't want to offend Ted Kennedy or others when the stakes (health insurance) are so huge.

Is the Kennedy "plan" attackable. Of course it is. And, at so many levels ... and that's before even talking to the real bright minds. From what I understand, no actuaries have even been called in to assess the real price.

But, perhaps most important, the time to seize the opportunity to respond is short. Those advocating an alternative plan are organized. They have egos and if they see this is generating good press ... they'll make every effort to secure more.

I hesitated a while before writing this blog. The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance does not lobby and personally I have no intentions to walk the halls of the Capital.

But I am truly concerned. And, I believe others with a vested interest in both protecting Americans and not saddling taxpayers with another entitlement that isn't properly priced and will ultimately balloon beyond any reasonable expectation should be concerned as well.

I have already seen a dozen online reports about the Kennedy bill (I'm sure it's also appeared in print editions). They all focus on the $65-a-month figure. As the publicity grows (and it will), why would any sane consumer buy something that costs more? They'll wait until they see what the government ends up doing.

Publicity builds momentum. Trust me, I introduced the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls ... and it wan't my brilliant work or that of the publicists who worked with me ... we just keep feeding a little fuel to the momentum. Before you know it, we had a national phenomenon and the cover of Time magazine.

What's my answer? I'm not really sure. I am reaching out to those I consider leaders in the industry. My personal commitment to members of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance is to do the best I can to serve the members, the industry. But on a personal note, my goal isn't to be self-serving. I want to do what's right for our country's future ... and the lives of my five children who will be paying the bill for Senator Kennedy's legacy.

Lots of what happens in Washington never gets traction and so it's been easy to ignore. This one shouldn't be categorized as such.

I'll keep you posted and be interested in feedback and your thoughts. Send to my E-mail (click here).

Jesse Slome