Susan and I are working out of our New Braunfels, Texas (near San Antonio) office this week. Last night we went to dinner in the nearby town of Gruene (pronounced GREEN) which is on the Guadalupe River, a quaint and active rafting area during the summer. Afterwards we took a walk and found a spot where the river was rushing over a road that had been closed due to the heavy rains in these parts. As I walked towards the water to see if it was warm or cold I didn’t see that a coating of algae had formed to create a surface as slick as ice. I hit the concrete pretty hard and while I wasn’t hurt to any great extent, I noticed that I didn’t bounce-up off the ground like I used to when I was 23, 33, or 43. After walking off the fall I started thinking how fast I would be able to get up when I am 63, 73 or 83. A few years ago my Dad, also a strapping young lad, fell at age 83 and broke his hip. He never walked again and died a few months after that incident.
A couple of weeks ago Susan had one of her girlfriends from the mid-west over for the weekend. Her husband, age 52, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. For the time being he can still drive and care for himself, however, he is getting forgetful and can no longer hold down a job. How long his treatments and medications will allow him this level of independence is anyone’s guess, however, we know his condition is unlikely to improve. Our friend is looking at an extended, life disrupting event that will impact her and her family emotionally, physically and financially. She now has a long-term care insurance policy for herself; too bad her husband doesn’t.
Accidents and illness can happen to any of us any day and the reality is that we have no control of when they will strike or how they will happen. Our only real options are to plan or not to plan. Live in reality or in denial.
Why am I sharing these stories with you’ One of the reasons is that after all of these years of preaching to the choir (that’s you), I cease to be amazed at how many insurance agents have not yet planned for their own long-term care event. In addition, I’m flummoxed by the timidity of most agents when it comes to presenting long-term care insurance to their prospects and clients and the difficulty that they have coping with the objections they get from consumers. I know that 100% will not have a long-term care event; that’s a good thing! Much of the insurance we sell never pays a claim so why do people buy it and why are you selling it’ It is because we sell and purchase insurance to protect against the unforeseen and the unknown. With long-term care, I know if I live long enough (maybe even until tomorrow) that I’m likely to need care. It really is that simple.
Part of the ‘Hippocratic Oath’, as it were, for insurance agents and financial planners is to help people understand the risks that they face and how to indemnify against them. And just like the doctor that can’t force his patients to lay-off the fatty foods and to exercise more, I understand that we can’t force our prospects to purchase insurance. Somehow, however, I’m not convinced that enough insurance agents are telling the long-term care story often or convincingly enough to as many consumers as they should be. As we get older along with our clients, the stories of those without some form of LTCi coverage, those who should or could have purchased it, will continue to grow. Are you prepared to face them without the knowledge that you’ve done your best to help them do the right thing’
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