Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from "How things are shaping up in the LTCI market: a Life Insurance Selling Producer Roundtable, which appears in the November issue of Life Insurance Selling.
To help ease the burden of increasing health care costs at a time when people are living longer, the insurance industry offers a wealth of good long-term care products. And we have a lot of very good people delivering the message about those products to the people who need them. In November's Producer Roundtable, I talked to three of the more successful producers in the LTCI market about how their business is shaping up this year, and their thoughts on why it has unfolded the way it has for them. Here is what they had to say:
Matthew D. Brotherton, CLTC, president of 1752 Financial Solutions, Richmond, Va.: Going into 2011, I had a pipeline of groups that were ready to move forward in offering LTC insurance. I had been working on these relationships over the past year. The employers realized it was the right time to move forward. They had surveyed their employees to ensure there was interest in pursuing a long-term care insurance program. For many reasons, the employees have purchased the long-term care insurance offered at work. For many, it was the simplified underwriting process, others the additional discounts, and still others liked the simplicity of having it available as a benefit at work. I have focused about 40% of my time continuing to prospect new employers, educating the existing employers — and their employees — and continuing to market the discounted LTCI plans to the state-wide associations I have secured over the years.
Mark S. Jones, LUTCF, president of Remington Insurance Group, Houston: Our year has been better than 2010 for several reasons. First, most of our current client base and qualified prospects are becoming more aware of the long-term care need, fueled by media attention and/or a personal experience with an aging family member or close acquaintance. Almost every baby boomer has a story to share, and the financial commitment for long-term care is generally more than people realize.
Second, the skittish economy and low investment returns over the past several years have caused people to significantly re-evaluate their long-term thinking.
And third, the parents of baby boomers are living much longer than expected, and in many cases, this applies to grandparents as well. It's no longer unusual to have a 58-year-old prospect discuss their 80-year-old parent now needing some assistance, as well as their 99-year-old grandmother's monthly expenses at a nearby facility.
