I’m traveling for business this week but I wanted to pass on an important memo that I received from AHIP regarding next week’s LTCi Awareness Campaign. It is very important for you AND AMERICA, that we all work together to educate consumers about the importance of long-term care planning. I quote verbatim:
As you are probably aware, November 4-10 has been designated Long-Term Care Awareness Week. Throughout the week stakeholders from across the industry will be working to promote the value of long-term care insurance and encouraging greater awareness of LTCI as a key aspect of financial planning and health security.
AHIP plans to use this opportunity to officially kickoff the long-term repositioning campaign and to mobilize our grassroots network of LTC Champions by encouraging members to talk about the benefits of LTCI and recruit new members. Below is a brief rundown of our planned efforts for the week.
Teleconference to Release New Data on LTCI Awareness
Working with Edelman and StrategyOne, AHIP will host a teleconference on Monday, November 5 at 11:30 am (Eastern) to kickoff the long-term repositioning campaign and release preliminary data on lack of LTCI awareness, especially among the Baby Boom generation.
AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni will moderate the teleconference. She will discuss the need for increased education to improve awareness, the need for incentives to encourage individuals to purchase LTCI, and our positive legislative agenda for the future. A representative from StrategyOne will discuss some of the findings from their survey and focus group research.
The teleconference will target reporters who cover LTCI, personal finance, retirement, and seniors’ issues. A media advisory will be distributed in advance and we plan continued outreach to reporters after the event.
The key message: American Baby Boomers are confused about long-term care and especially confused about whether they are covered, who will pay for the care and how much it will cost.
‘ 30 percent of Baby Boomers say they have coverage, even though other official estimates suggest about 5 percent of them have long-term care insurance. This likely means millions of Americans erroneously think they are protected against the cost of long-term care insurance.
‘ 54 percent of Baby Boomers erroneously think Medicare covers long-term care costs.
‘ 44 percent of Baby Boomers erroneously believe other health insurance covers long-term care costs.
‘ Americans overestimate the cost of long-term care insurance and under-estimate the cost of nursing home care.
Mobilize Long-Term Care Champions Network
During Long-Term Care Awareness Week, AHIP will mobilize the Long-Term Care Champions Network, our national grassroots organization comprised of more than 5,000 members, including policyholders, their family members, caregivers, health care professionals, agents and concerned citizens with an interest in long-term care issues.
Starting on Friday, November 1, AHIP will contact the LTC Champions to encourage them to do the following activities during LTC Awareness Week:
‘ Recruit at least 10 people to join the coalition – such as family members, caregivers and/or clients;
‘ Go to the Champions Network website and send a letter to their legislators; and
‘ Write and submit an LTE to their local/regional paper on their positive experience with LTCI.
Press Release on LTC Awareness Week Activities
AHIP will put out a press release highlighting our industry’s efforts on behalf of Long-Term Care Awareness Week. It will include the new data released on the teleconference as well as our efforts to mobilize the Champions network and recruit new members.
Objectives
Through these efforts, we hope to accomplish the following:
‘ Drive positive media coverage of LTCI and the value it provides to policyholders;
‘ Highlight the lack of awareness of LTCI, especially among Baby Boomers, and position our industry as taking a proactive role to address this issue; and
‘ Develop relationships with key reporters and establish ourselves as a go to source for industry-wide data and comment for future stories.
If you have any questions or suggestions on other efforts we can undertake with you during LTC Awareness Week, please let us know.
New Clinton Ad on Long-Term Care Insurance Running in Iowa and New Hampshire
Additionally, we want to bring to your attention Senator Hilary Clinton’s latest campaign ad where she talks about long-term care insurance. The following is the script for the ad:
Announcer: When George Bush threatened to privatize social security, Hillary was there fighting every step of the way to stop him.
And she was there for every senior who needs round-the-clock-Care, creating a law to ease the burden on family caregivers.
She’s still there fighting to stop long term care insurance scams that prey on the elderly. These days, it seems like every candidate on earth is coming here for You.
But which candidate has been there for you all along’
Hillary Clinton: I’m Hillary Clinton and I approved this message.
Click here to view the entire ad online: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/video/62.aspx.
We want to alert you to this ad as an example of how LTCI is being talked about on the campaign trail in the continuing nexus of politics and scrutiny of our industry.
As always, be sure to let us know if you have any comments or questions.
I will be communicating with AHIP shortly to see how we can access you to the conference call and to the other activities of the week. I will be back in the office Monday. Please call or email me if you have any questions.