Here's How Long-Term Care Planning Is Changing

Securian is starting by offering the policy in Florida, New Jersey and states that are part of the Interstate Insurance Product Regulation Commission, aka the "Insurance Compact."

Lincoln's new policy, the MoneyGuard Fixed Advantage life insurance policy, is part of the company's MoneyGuard life-LTC hybrid product line. The new policy combines a long-term care benefits rider with a universal life policy.

One feature is a new benefit transfer rider, which is included in the policy at no extra cost.

Policyholders can use the rider to share MoneyGuard policy benefits with siblings, parents or other non-spouse beneficiaries as well as with spouses or domestic partners.

When two policyholders use the rider to connect their policies, and one policyholder dies, the other can simply collect the other policyholder's death benefit, or use part or all of the death benefit to buy more policy benefits.

The rider can be used through age 121.

Lincoln noted that it has also improved its digital claims submission system.

2. Companies are improving traditional caregiver support.

Lincoln's MoneyGuard policies have come with a provision that policyholders can use to pay for informal care five days per week.

The new policy lets policyholders pay relatives, including spouses, for informal care seven days a week.

A health insurer, Anthem, is working with Ianacare, a company that sells caregiver support benefits packages to employers, to show how providing access to caregiver advisors and other support services can improve caregivers' productivity.

Ianacare's mobile app and advisors can help a caregiver organize a team to provide informal care for a loved one.

When the company participated in an Anthem pilot program for six weeks, the likelihood that a caregiver would handle most caregiving tasks alone fell by 9.1 percentage points, the likelihood the caregiver would have to take time off from work to provide care fell by 12.5 percentage points, and the likelihood that the caregiver would often feel overwhelmed by caregiving tasks fell by 12.5 percentage points, according to a report on the results commissioned by Anthem and prepared by a team that include representatives from Anthem and HealthCore, a health research project company.

Support for expanding commercial and government respite care benefits, or programs that provide extra home care services or temporary facility-based care when family caregivers take time off from caregiving, appears to be building.

3. Companies are setting up the long-term care services networks of the future.

Many life and health insurers have venture capital arms. The venture capital program managers say they are looking for any startups with ideas for providing care for older people who are frail or who have trouble with the activities of daily living.

The Helper Bees, a company that runs an online long-term care services supermarket, is putting out a request for information from "aging-in-place" solutions providers.

The Helper Bees system can vet providers' credentials, process insurance claims and collect service quality reports.

The firm is organizing the RFI to expand the number of vendors offering services through its system.

The vendors could provide traditional home health care and homemaker services, remote patient monitoring, mental health services, medication adherence support, legal assistance, transportation or pest management services, The Helper Bees says.

The firm also looking for providers of fall detection and prevention programs, social isolation improvement programs, and advanced elder care technology.

The RFI submission deadline is June 10.

(Photo: Katarzyna Bialasiewicz/iStock)