NU Online News Service, Jan. 31, 10:10 a.m. – Eastbridge Consulting Group Inc., Avon, Conn., has released a study that probes the current state of the voluntary long-term care market, including the practices and opinions of product providers.
"While there is a lot of talk about long-term care, we found that only a handful of worksite carriers and producers are selling much of it," says Eastbridge Vice President Bonnie Brazzell. "In fact, opinions are mixed on whether long-term care will be a ?significant' voluntary product."
While long-term care is a "hot" topic in the media and trade press, most of the attention has focused on the individual consumer sale. The Eastbridge study, "Long-Term Care Insurance and Worksite Marketing: Carrier Strategies," assesses the product from a worksite marketing perspective.
The study found that half of the top 25 worksite carriers offer a long-term care product. About two-thirds offer a standalone policy; the remainder offer a long-term rider. As a whole, these carriers report sales results "in-line" with expectations and, despite lower expectations for 2001-2002, due to a weakening economy and consumer confidence, most are optimistic about the future of the product.
