Long Term Care Insurance Association Adds To Consumer Video Library

One of the most frequent questions pertaining to long term care insurance is the best age to apply.  To address that question, the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance has added new videos to the organization’s Consumer Learning Center.

“We receive hundreds of inquiries each month from individuals confused about when to apply for this protection,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the Association.  “They hear wait until after retirement or start when you are 40.  It’s no wonder that people are confused and miss a most important fact about when to start the process.”

The Association created two new videos to help address important questions often raised by callers and those visiting the Association’s website.  “We just don’t have enough time to spend with each person answering their questions, so we attempt to address them all with short educational videos that are accessed via the Association’s website,” Slome notes.  According to Association data, the organization’s website gets as many as 45,000 visitors monthly seeking information.

The first of the two just-added videos focuses on the best age to apply for coverage with statistics from the organization’s 2012 Long Term care Insurance Sourcebook. 

A second consumer video focuses on tips and techniques consumers can utilize to obtain the best long term care insurance coverage for the most affordable premium.  “You only buy this protection once so you had better do it correctly,” Slome adds.  “Our mission is focused on bringing real, current and relevant information to consumers.  An educated consumer is a long term care insurance professional’s best prospect.”

The two videos can be viewed online.  The following are the links to the programs.

Best Age To Buy Long Term Care Insurance

Get The Best Cost For Insurance For Long Term Care

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.

Long Term Care Insurance State Tax Deduction Guide Published

Long term care insurance premiums may be fully tax deductible for individuals and a growing number of states now offer deductions and even tax credits to those purchasing this important coverage.

According to the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance, the national trade organization, tax deductibility gives individuals and business owners one very important reason to consider ways to address future long term care needs.

“Americans are living well into their 80s, 90s and even longer when the likelihood of needing extremely costly long term care services is almost a guarantee,” declares Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, the national trade group charged with creating awareness for long term care related issues.  “The  federal and state governments recognizes this and offers the tax incentives to encourage more people to plan.”

Individuals may be able to deduct long term care insurance premiums paid from their 2011 federal income taxes.  The federal levels are based on your age, Slome notes, ranging from $340 to $4,240 per-person and increase for new policies purchased in 2012.    Individuals face certain limitations that are not imposed on self-employed or corporations.  “These entities may able to make the full cost tax deductible,” Slome adds.

In addition to federal tax deductibility limits, a growing number of states now offer either tax deductions or tax credits to encourage state residents to purchase long-term care insurance.

The American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance has just published a state-by-state listing of available tax deductions on the organization’s website at www.aaltci.org/tax.

To learn more about long-term care planning and get long-term care insurance costs from a designated expert visit the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance Information Center.

Long Term Care Insurance Association Opens 2012 Sales Achievement Awards

The Long Term Care Insurance Sales Achievement Awards is now open for entries effective  January 1, 2012. 

The yearly award based on 2011 sales is organized by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI), the national trade organization.  The 2011 award ranked producers from all states broken down into categories including individual LTC insurance, multilife long term care as well as sales of asset-based annuity and life insurance products offering long term care benefits.

The awards are designed to recognize and celebrate outstanding achievements by long term care insurance producers working to educate and help protect Americans.  “From those producers just starting out to the many seasoned specialists, there’s no more passionate and hard-working group of professionals than those selling long-term care insurance protection,” explains Jesse Slome, AALTCI’s executive director.

A special “Rookie of the Year” category now recognizes those producers who first started selling in 2011.   A key component of the awards program is the State-by-State ranking.  “This gives 50 agents the opportunity to show that they are number 1 in their particular state,” Slome explains.  “That’s certainly a powerful marketing tool and these leaders are often called on to teach others and share their knowledge.”

Online applications are available at www.aaltci.org/awards.  The closing date for free entries is February 29.

Established in 1998, the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance is the national trade organization that supports insurance professionals as well as conducts awareness programs to educate American adults about the importance of long-term care planning.  

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."