Tax breaks loom large

Insurance carriers have Uncle Sam partially to thank for the public's apparent growing interest in combination life insurance-long term care insurance products. Effective Jan. 1, 2010, new provisions adopted as part of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 make distributions from qualified combination life (and combination annuity) contracts tax-free when used to cover the cost of long term care. Genworth Financial Senior Vice President Beth Ludden sees that policy broadening the appeal of combination products to carriers, advisors and the general public alike. "The Pension Protection Act has already increased interest in these products among advisors," she says. "I think as we draw closer to 2010, the interest is only going to increase."