Your Good Health Today Can Save You 10% - 20% Each Year

Drivers who've had accidents pay more for their car insurance than good drivers who benefit from good driver discounts. When it comes to long-term care insurance protection, individuals who are in good health when they apply for coverage can take advantage of good health discounts. These good health (or preferred health) discounts can reduce the yearly cost of your long-term care insurance protection by 10-to-20 percent. Best of all, once you qualify for a good health discount, you won't lose the annual savings, even when your health changes.

Four Important things to keep in mind:

1) Health changes as we age. Even a simple change that is not life-threatening can cause you to lose the ability to qualify for good health discounts offered by insurers.

2) Each long-term care insurance company sets its own good health standards. An existing health condition that may be acceptable to one company ... may not be acceptable to another.

3) Taking common medications, and even your weight can impact your ability to qualify for good health discounts with some insurers.

4) If one company denies your application for long-term care insurance, another may refuse to insure you. But that's not always true; so seek professional advice BEFORE you apply.

There Are Ways To Reduce the Costs of Long-Term Care Insurance

Most people believe they are likely to live a long life ... into their 80's, their 90's and maybe even longer. When you live a long life, you are more likely to need long-term care. Maybe you've seen this with an aging parent, a friend, or a neighbor.

When the need for long-term care occurs, will you be prepared? Will you have a plan in place? No one likes to think about aging. But, like it or not, we're all going to get older and that means you have to plan for it. When it comesto planning for long-term care, it's never too early to get the facts you need to make a smart decision. That's especially important because once you have health problems getting protection may be more difficult or even impossible.

When it comes to long-term care insurance, here are three important facts few people know:

1) There are ways to reduce the cost significantly.

2) A change in your health can increase what you pay for insurance protection. It can make it impossible to get long-term care insurance no matter how much you are willing to pay.

3) You might be surprised how affordable long-term cre insurance protection really is when you compare it to having to pay for care itself.

Remember: Living a long life is likely .... Planning for it is necessary and a smart financial move.

CMS Posts Quality Ranking of 16,000 Nursing Homes

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has launched the federal government’s first website devoted to ranking of the 15,800 nursing homes that participate in the public insurance system. Homes are assessed based on health inspection surveys, quality control measures and staffing levels.

In this first round of rankings, twelve percent of homes earned a top rating of 5 stars; twenty-two percent earned the lowest rating of 1 star and the remaining sixty-six percent were distributed fairly evenly at 2, 3, or 4 stars.

Consumers are urged to use the ranking in their evaluation of nursing home alternatives in their area, but are advised the data is no substitute for personal visits and discussions with administrators.

To review the rankings, click here for the Nursing Home Compare section of the www.medicare.gov site.

National Magazines Help Promote Interest in LTCi

It’s always nice when widely-read, national publications have good things to say about long term care insurance. On September 9, SmartMoney ran a lengthy article on the tax perks associated with buying coverage. On August 7, US News & World Report listed long term care planning as one of their five top tips when handling your aging parents’ finances.

Read the articles here and here.

Near Retirement? Cash Values in Life Insurance Can Pay For LTCi

What should older clients do with the cash value life insurance they no longer need? Rather than cash in their policies and face the dire tax consequences, many advisors are finding creating uses for the internal build-up, including paying for LTCi. Two relevant articles that speak favorably of the strategy were written for consumers and appeared in the August 30th edition of the Chicago Tribune.

Read the articles here and here.

Latest Alzheimer’s Research Findings

Scientists in Britain and France say they have discovered three major genetic links to Alzheimer’s, which could affect up to 20% of people with the disease. The hope is that future treatments could be developed to remove the detrimental effects of the genes. Some scientists have called it the most significant such discovery in 15 years.

Read the article here.

What Do Consumers Pay For Long-Term Care Insurance

The Partnership program provides enormous benefit for consumers. It also provides significant benefit to insurance professionals.

One of the most important benefits is the gathering of relevant information. The following is preliminary information gathered from the Partnership States. While the numbers may change, it sheds an important light on the subject of what people pay for long-term care insurance protection. It clearly shows that the majority of consumers are spending far less for long-term care insurance protection than what's reported in the consumer media.

The following data is based on over 70,000 individuals (under age 61) purchasing Partnership long-term care insurance policies between January 1, 2009 and June 30, 2009.

Premium Amount Percentage
Less than $500 18.1%
$500 - $999 33.2%
$1,000 - $1,499 11.1%
$1,500 - $1,999 10.2%
$2,000 - $2,499 7.6%
$2,500 - $2,999 6.0%
$3,000 - $3,499 4.7%
$3,500 - $3,999 3.3%
$4,000 and Over 5.3%

Why are these numbers so important?

Because, here is the number a highly respected organization reports to the media: "The average individual buyer in the first three months of 2009 is paying $2,129 during the first year of coverage." (June 8, 2009)

If consumers perceive $2,129 is the cost (that's $4,258 for a couple) they are going to believe that long-term care insurance is EXPENSIVE. And, they are not going to buy.

BUT 72.6% PAID LESS THAN $2,000. And more than half paid LESS THAN $1,000.

It is very hard to overcome perceptions. Let's hope facts will help.