I am an employer just like many of you and your clients. I understand as well as anyone the impact of payroll and benefit expenses on my bottomline. I intend to install an employer paid core benefit long-term care insurance plan on my employees prior to year-end because I think it will provide them with a benefit that will have positive lasting impact on their financial futures.
The metrics of this decision are quite simple. For an average cost of about $30 per month/per employee I can provide them with $109,000 of retirement income and/or early total disability protection. As part of the package they will have periodic options to increase their coverage on a guaranteed issue basis. I will be able to accomplish this with simplified underwriting. My employees can choose to buy-up from this core benefit package and add their spouses to the plan (full underwriting) at their own expense but the their premiums will be discounted 10% since this is an employer sponsored plan. My employees will also be able to offer this premium discount to immediate family members. If I was a larger employer (10+) I would be able to secure lower rates per employee/per month and I might be able to secure underwriting concessions for spouses. Finally, if they ever leave my employ the policy is their’s; I’ve made the down payment for them and they get to keep the discounts! This is a high impact benefit for $30 per employee/per month which is tax deductible to my company like any other A & H benefit.
Do you think that if I gave my employees a $30 per month raise starting next month (which would cost me about $37.50 per month) they would notice it’ After taxes and other withholding a $30 per month raise would amount to maybe $20 net or about $10 per pay check; $5 per week. This wouldn’t even cover their Starbucks habit! What benefit would this be to them’ NONE! What benefit would they perceive from this raise’ NONE! What benefit would BJFIM/Paradigm gain from this incredible largess’ NADA! NOTHING! NONE! Maybe some derision when I trumpet this as a benefit to them’ Not the kind of impact that I’m looking for!
Let’s put this into perspective. $30 per month ($360 per year), which is 100% tax deductible, represents less than one percent of each employee’s base salary; far less if I take into account the other benefits that we provide and my payroll taxes. The premium on long-term care insurance doesn’t go up every year which means that my cost as a percentage of payroll goes down each year. So let’s see if I can get this straight; for less than 1% of my overall employee payroll costs I can:
- Start my employees off with $109,000 of tax-free retirement income protection which they can increase periodically on a guaranteed issue basis
- Provide my employees with $109,000 of tax-free coverage against an early onset long-term care claim or serious disability.
- My employees can purchase more benefits on themselves on a discounted basis.
- My employees can purchase coverage on their spouses on a discounted basis.
- My employees and their spouses policies are their’s if they leave my employ; I’ve made the down payment for them and they get to keep the discounts.
- My employees can offer LTCi on a discounted basis to immediate family members.
And I can do all of this for less than the price of two Grande Chai Lattes per week’
Please don’t tell me again that you think that long-term care insurance is too expensive or that you can’t make this case to your business owner clients. As I pointed out in my Blog of August 28th (When Pigs Can Fly) for groups of 25+ we can provide you with a guaranteed issue employer paid multi-life long-term care insurance program that costs less than the lowest cost group dental plan. Maybe your employer groups won’t do this today. But the journey of 1,000 miles starts with the first step. If your clients don’t know that they can offer this high value benefit how can they make the decision to buy it’ If you are not telling this story then how will they ever understand it’
BJFIM/Paradigm marketing representatives are ready to help you break into the greatest untapped source and the most easily accessible market for long-term care insurance TODAY! We will help you craft the proposals and make the sale. We can also help you with the enrollment. All you need to do is send us a census.
Learn everything you need to know about selling multi-life long-term care insurance by attending our Multiple Streams of Income continuing education and sales training meetings on September 25th & 26th. REGISTER TODAY!