Custom Care II, Custom Care II Partnership and Corporate Solutions (multi-life) applications must be dated on or before June 6, 2010, and must be received at the home office by June 21, 2010.  This means that applications must be received in the BJFIM/Paradigm Woodland Hills, California office no later than June 18, 2010 so that they can processed and FedEx’d to the home office to meet the deadline.  Lot’s of “must be’s”, but having been through our share of fire sales over the past 15 years we know how important it is to understand the rules set forth by the insurance company in order to get this business issued.  Rest assured that the BJFIM/Paradigm LTCi team will do everything it can to help you get those applications submitted in a timely manner.

John Hancock has a number of other product changes, suspensions and withdrawals in various different states.  For state-by-state rules and information contact your BJFIM/Paradigm Marketing Representative or CLICK HERE for JH’s May 3, 2010 product announcement.

So you may be wondering why this is happening and is there cause for concern.  In my opinion the short answer is “NO”.  Let me start with the situation in California.  The primary reason for the withdrawal is the glacial regulatory environment at the California Department of Insurance.  Custom Care II, the basic chassis for all products sold in California, has needed a new business repricing for several years now. John Hancock has filed the request, but as is typical, it languishes on some bureaucrat’s desk.  Long-term care insurance new product approvals and repricing is a low priority at CDI and the shortened work week now in place for state government employees has made matters even worse. 

In my opinion John Hancock has made a good business decision pertaining to its California business.  If the home office actuaries are not comfortable with a product’s pricing as it pertains to a host of global economic issues (which appears to be the case) the responsible thing to do is suspend sales.  This isn’t the “schmata” business; an insurance company cannot lose money on every sale and try to make it up in the volume.

On the national level John Hancock appears to be honing it’s product offering.  At this point I don’t see any red flags that would indicate wholesale abandonment of this market segment or risk. All major long-term care insurance companies have or will reprice compound inflation protection, move away from lifetime benefits and attempt to simplify their overall product lines. I may be wrong but as agents we should be supportive of an insurance carrier’s attempts to act responsibly in product pricing.  We’ve seen the results of the opposite strategy and they can be ugly.

That being said there’s a whole lot of opportunity in this news. Here’s a quick review:

1. The most obvious is to close out any existing John Hancock long-term care cases you have by the submission deadlines outlined above. If Custom Care II (particularly California Partnership) is the right choice for your client then there’s no time like the present to get it done.  Be assured that when JH comes back into California, the premiums on 5% compound inflation will be much higher and lifetime benefits will probably no longer be available.
2. Going forward we still have a number of great companies with mid-2000’s 5% compound inflation pricing; Prudential, Genworth, United of Omaha, Transamerica and Berkshire have not yet repriced.  I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, your client/prospect will never see better premiums then NOW on 5% compound inflation protection.  How do you say going, going, gone!
3. If California Partnership is your client’s preference then after June 6, 2010 your one viable choice in the independent LTCi brokerage channel will be Genworth.  Additionally, Genworth is one of the few companies that continues to be bullish on lifetime benefits. After a rough 2009 Genworth is looking very strong.
4. MetLife’s new LifeStage Advantage offers a very simplied “piece of money” product chassis. While the 5% compound inflation rider has been repriced upward on both LifeStage and VIP 2, other inflation options coupled with multi-life at three lives make Met an important player in the multi-life market.

Regardless of these and future changes anticipating the long-term care risk is an essential part of responsible financial and insurance planning. For better or for worse traditional and linked LTCi products will continue to evolve but the problem remains the same. The solution is get your client’s needs covered with the best choice or choices that exist in today’s marketplace. 

BJFIM/Paradigm stands ready to help.  Call us today!

Now at the risk of being politically incorrect or offending someone’s tender sensibilities my simple and straightforward philosophy towards an over weaning government controlled health care system has been simple and straightforward:

1. The government has a legitimate interest in fostering and regulating a level playing field so that private insurers can create insurance policies that people want to purchase and to make sure that the consumer is protected against insurance programs  that don’t live up to their promises; and
2. The government that governs least governs best.

To say the least, the health care reform bill that is being signed into law as I write this Blog is none of the above.  It is not only everything that many of us have fought over the years it is exactly the worst of all of the evils that supporters of more government invovlement claim that they are fighting against.  A case in point is the CLASS Act long-term care component of the reform bill. While it holds out the promise of long-term care benefits  it’s primary function within health care reform is one of the many  dubious “revenue neutral” funding schemes within the bill. 

While the outlines of coverage within CLASS are still hazy what is clear is that the majority political party is counting on it to generate $70 billion dollars of revenue towards the overall cost of health care reform. This despite the fact that the American Academy of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries have already told anyone who will listen in the Federal government that CLASS is “actuarially unsustainable“.  Since I’ve already discussed CLASS in last month’s BJFIM/Paradigm Webinar and at our broker meeting in Woodland Hills two weeks ago I won’t bore you with the sketchy details of the plan and will cut to the chase; IN MY OPINION, CLASS is an integral part of a government run Ponzi scheme being perpetrated on the American people.  If an insurance company designed and marketed a product like this to consumers its executives, including the actuaries, would be “perp-walked” out on the nightly news. So to quote radio talk show host and President of the Landmark Legal Foudation, Mark Levin, “so there, I said it!” 

But the beautiful thing about America and the entrepreneurial amongst us is that there is a “pony” in this pile of *&*$. The one good thing about CLASS is that employers must “opt-out” of offering CLASS insurance (and I use the term insurance loosely) to their employees. This gives you the opportunity to open the discussion.  The pro-active agent and financial planner has a reason to discuss and encourage employers to insure themselves and key employees  with high quality private long-term care insurance and offer the same on a voluntary basis to all employees. There’s no time like the present to do this.  Overtime, CLASS will skew the private LTCi markets making products more expensive and less attractive to consumers. Why you may ask?  Enrollment in CLASS is likely to be less than predicted and adverse selection will be rampant due to the guaranteed issue basis of the program. As CLASS’ anticipated revenue does not materialize, it will threaten to torpedo the entire funding scheme of  Health Care Reform.  What happens when government programs fail?  Politicians and bureaucrats tinker with the private markets and we all know where that leads.

You can do good for yourself and your clients by getting them into private long-term care insurance today.  Traditional or linked LTCi will never get better or be “cheaper” than it is now.  Over the next month I will post a series of product reviews giving you the highlights of each of the carriers in our portfolio.  We will also do a webinar sometime prior to the end of April to sum up the best of the best.  As always, our job at BJFIM/Paradigm is to help you make more long-term care insurance sales easily and quickly. Our staff stands ready to assist you.

In the meantime I hope that you will join me in becoming more actively involved in our electoral process so that we can replace those in Washington D.C. and Sacramento who wish to abrogate our freedom of choice in all things health insurance and health care related.  As we’ve painfully learned elections have consequences. Let’s make sure that the next one does as well but this time in the freedom’s favor.

barry@paradigmins.com

Where does this leave the typical consumer?  Ill served at best.  In the dark with an uncovered insurance risk at worst.  The smart planner will search out the information and broker that can help them but the simple truth remains that most don’t.  They either don’t understand or don’t know the problems that are headed their way. 

There is a confluence between my assertions above.  Many agents and most consumers are unaware of the expanding world of long-term care planning and insurance solutions that now exist.  Traditional long-term care insurance is no longer the only choice.  Brokers that focus on life insurance or annuities can now offer products with the advantage of long-term care coverage.  And traditional long-term care insurance agents may begin losing sales to their more nimble competition if they don’t move their game to a higher level.  The full implementation of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 means that financial and insurance professionals of all stripes are now playing in each other’s sandbox.  Either they will become fluent in how all of the various planning tools fit consumer’s needs or they will begin to lose sales, get sued by disgruntled clients and heirs or both.  Which category do you want to find yourself in?

It is because of this growth of new product types that we at BJFIM/Paradigm are changing our focus from long-term care “insurance” to long-term care “planning”.  Yes, we still make our living by helping you market and sell insurance products that indemnify against the long-term care risk.  But now the solution may include a life or annuity combo, traditional long-term care insurance or all three.  Sales will be won by those agents who can appropriately discuss the long-term care risk, help clients understand that planning for it makes sense and recommending the proper insurance solutions.

So does this mean that you’ll have to learn about new products and techniques that will help you assist your prospects and clients?  Afraid so. I’ve been at it for more than a year and our staff has as well.  And now that the provisions of the Pension Protection Act are fully in play insurance carriers are bringing new products online every month.  1035 Exchange opportunities will abound. Consumers will soon learn that they can use latent cash values in existing life or annuity products to provide themselves with life, retirement and long-term care security.  These folks will represent the low-hanging fruit for the agile agent. The question is, will you be the on the receiving or short end of the exchange process? 

As always our plan is to make it easy for you to succeed in all things involved in long-term care planning.  That’s why on March 11, 2010 we will be hosting a seminar that will help you become a master of this new world.  Join us for Links To Long-Term Care Planning Success, a day complete with product, marketing and sales ideas, continuing education credits and a whole lot more.  You won’t want to miss this opportunity to meet with our entire staff and our friends from Genworth Financial an industry leader in traditional and linked long-term care insurance products and planning.  

Take advantage of our early bird tuition and don’t forget, space is limited. Our meeting in October sold out so you want to reserve your seat today.  Click Here to get a complete program guide and register today!  We look forward to seeing you on March 11.

barry@paradigmins.com

The long-term care sales success “game” will be won by agents who are fluent in long-term care planning as well as those who can juggle multiple types of products. Traditional long-term care insurance agents will want to understand when and where linked products are appropriate.  Brokers who focus on life insurance will need to learn how an ABR for chronic illness can help their clients solve part or all of their long-term care need. Annuity specialists will want to consider how consumers with traditional annuity products may be able to take advantage of the new linked benefit offerings.  The opportunities in long-term care planning have just expanded exponentially; are you ready to multiply your sales? 

Join the Paradigm Insurance Marketing team and Genworth Financial on March 11, 2010 to discover the new universe of long-term care planning techniques and products. No insurance carrier and brokerage general agency are better positioned to help you capitalize on these new opportunities.  Here’s the short list of what you’ll learn:

       Life and long-term care insurance industry insights from Robert Eckhardt, Genworth Financial Senior V.P.                  

       Comprehensive product reviews for traditional and linked long-term care insurance as well as life and annuity products.

       One-hour continuing education session on traditional and linked long-term care insurance underwriting.

       One-hour continuing education session on the long-term care claims process.

       Top producer panel with a focus on opening new cases, presenting and positioning linked and traditional products and closing sales.

       Discounted online continuing education package from Lyte-Speed Learning

       Networking lunch + afternoon wine, cheese and gourmet chocolate tasting

       Discounts for 12-hours of online continuing education training from Lyte-Speed Learning

       Raffle prizes and much more

FOR A COMPLETE PROGRAM & REGISTRATION click on the link.  Take advantage of our early registration tuition.  Also, please note that space is absolutely limited at the Woodland Hills Country Club. I mention this because we had to turn some folks away for our October 2009 seminar and registrations for this event are coming in daily.

Susan, Paul and I thank you for your business and look forward to seeing you on March 11, 2010.

barry@paradigmins.com

In light of this economic uncertainty individual consumers and small business owners are rightly concerned about keeping their jobs, maintaining their businesses and lowering their overhead.  It hasn’t gotten any easier to start the long-term care planning “conversation”. However, your client’s problem hasn’t gone away.  If they think it has, they are taking a vacation from reality.  In fact, the investments and home equity they may have been relying on to pay for their long-term care have evaporated and may or may not be back when they need it.  There are now more long-term care planning solutions available then ever before; our goal is to provide you with the products and tools that can make the process easy for you and your clients.

The long-term care insurance “game” has been changing and will continue to do so in more radical ways.  The day of most consumers being able to afford lifetime benefits is a distant memory in the rear view mirror. The re-pricing (that means UP!) of compound inflation benefits is now upon us.  Utilization of assisted living benefits will soon begin taking their toll on claims experience forcing a rethinking of that benefit and cost. Finally the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and the proliferation of accelerated benefits for chronic illness will create new sales opportunities of life insurance and annuity products; combos so to speak. The faint of heart will avoid the changes or stop talking to their prospects and clients about long-term care planning. The rest of us will take the challenge, learn some new tricks and go forth and sell. Which category will you fall into?

There are three simple steps to making the transition but even before that there’s a “pre-step” so to speak.  That is that long-term care planning can no longer be product centric. In fact, it must be life stage focused. You see, people of all ages must contend with the notion of planning for an unforeseen chronic illness.  Long-term care planning can no longer be viewed as something that happens to older people. Folks of all ages suffer from serious accidents and illnesses that require care that isn’t covered by medical insurance.  Yes, I know that the proliferation of long-term care happens towards the end of life but how lousy would you feel if you sold a life insurance policy to a 35-year old father without an accelerated benefit rider for chronic illness who, after a serious auto or skiing accident, can no longer care for himself?

It is all about life stage.  The appropriate sale to a 25 to 45 year old would probably be a UL or term life product with an accelerated benefit for chronic illness.  The middle age individual (late 40’s to early 60’s) would still want some amount of traditional long-term care insurance. It ultimately provides the most clucks for your chronic illness bucks. The older client, mid 60’s to late 70’s, may wish to consider repositioning some of their underperforming investible assets, that they’ve set aside for the long-term care emergency, into an asset based solution such as a single premium life + ABR for chronic illness or a Pension Protection Act annuity + qualified long-term care benefit rider.  Smart insurance professionals will learn how to coordinate and “stack” these various coverages to best serve the consumer.

It’s been said that every great presentation can be distilled into a three step process. Here’s my suggested approach to getting clients started on the long-term care planning path:

1. Identify the risk. Everyone’s got one, young, middle aged and older. Illustrate a reasonable long-term care scenario for the age of the client that you are talking to.  A client doesn’t know that they have a problem until you describe it to them.  You can use our “Pool of Money” software or any tool that allows you to model the potential event. Just give them a planning target to shoot at. Something is better than nothing.
2. If the client recognizes that they have a problem, suggest an age appropriate solution. Keep in mind that what you are suggesting today will only be part of that solution. Needs and products change. Just like people purchase life insurance more than once in their lives coverage for chronic illness will no longer be a one shot approach.
3. Review and keep reviewing your client’s need to leverage the risk of chronic illness.  It’s all about life stage and the client’s inclination towards indemnifying for the risk. Some will want some and other will want none.

There’s one more thing. You will need to lead with questions not answers.  If your client is concerned about this risk, regardless of their life stage, it will be appropriate for you to ask for some basic information about their finances; income, net worth and the amount and sorts of investible assets is essential particularly when you are working with clients in the later stages of life.  If you insist on throwing product choices at the client without doing your homework they are unlikely to buy. Long-term care planning, with insurance, will continue to be a rifle shot not a shotgun sale.

Resilience is the key to surviving and thriving.  If I had my druthers I’d like to be back in 2001 selling traditional LTCi with lifetime benefits, 5% compound inflation and 10-pay premiums. The sad fact, however, is that we as an industry, have only cracked the code of long-term care planning for less than 10% of the folks who need it.  This isn’t an impressive scorecard. If we care, we need to do better for our clients and ultimately ourselves. So into the breech I go; care to join me?

Don’t miss our webinar on Thursday August 27^th.  Click here to register.

barry@paradigmins.com

Multi-life long-term insurance programs have been a boon to many agents and insureds. Never before have small business owners been able to access high quality individual long-term care insurance for themselves, key employees and sometimes spouses on a simplified issue basis.  This has allowed many consumers to get coverage that they would have been unable to qualify for because of very common health conditions.  As you might expect, however, home office actuaries are watching claims experience very closely and undoubtedly they are poised to make adjustments to their criteria if they believe that they are not creating a profitable block of business.

For those of you following this topic, you already know that Prudential adjusted their program from requiring only three lives to seven in order to get simplified issue.  Other companies (some of which you may be unaware of because they are not available in California) are wanting four, five, ten or as many as fifteen lives for significant underwriting concessions. MetLife continues to hold at three lives and while I’m not going to tell you they plan to increase that minimum requirement, it stands to reason they’re looking at their book of business carefully and will respond appropriately.  How much warning we will have of the changes is anyone’s guess but I can tell you that nothing lasts forever except the regret of not being able to get insurance when you can no longer qualify.

The next big change will move the tectonic plates of the long-term care insurance industry, slowly yet surely onto a whole new course.  Do you remember when lifetime benefits were affordable and available?  When the actuaries and reinsurers started getting nervous about pricing an open-ended benefit, they did two things.  First, they re-priced lifetime benefits, making them so costly they became unaffordable for many.  Second, some companies decided not to offer lifetime benefits at all, substituting seven-year and ten-year benefit periods because of the finite nature of the risk.

Get ready, because I sense the same trend could be happening with 5% compound inflation protection.  While you haven’t seen this in California yet, the first stage of this drift has already materialized.  Several years ago carriers introduced “simplified” products that use a different inflation index such as CPI (consumer price inflation), or priced 5% compound unfavorably compared to other inflation options. Another case in point is MetLife: currently they are re-pricing new business premiums on their VIP II series throughout the country.  From what I’m hearing, the 5% compound inflation rates are about 40% higher, depending on age. We expect to see these new business premiums in California by the end of summer or sooner. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire!

Do I think this is bad? No, it’s good that the insurance companies are managing their business in a responsible manner, so they remain viable with products that live up to the promises made to consumers. None of us want carriers to exit the marketplace or worse, become insolvent.  We’ve learned to adapt to LTCi products without attractively priced lifetime benefits: we will adjust our planning and sales techniques to these and other changes as well.

In the meantime long-term care insurance, as it exists today, is the best it’s ever going to get. Speaking for Susan and me, we’re happy as hell that the premium for our first lifetime benefit/10-pay/5% compound inflation long-term care insurance policy’s premium is several years in the rear view mirror, and that our second lifetime benefit/10-pay/5% compound inflation policy only has four years to go. If we were purchasing today, we would not purchase lifetime benefits or 10-pay because of the dramatic re-pricing of these benefits.  However, we were early adopters and we’ve benefitted from that.  Consumers who purchase today’s products will feel the same way ten or twelve years hence when they compare what they’ve purchased to what is available at that time.

The opportunities before you are clear:

1. Simplified issue, through the wonders of multi-life long-term care insurance, will not get better than it is today.  MetLife continues to offer significant underwriting concessions at three lives and Prudential at seven. Transamerica has modified guaranteed issue at 15 employer-paid lives.  You need to approach every business owner with this news and help them get some coverage.
2. Pricing on 5% compound inflation protection is likely to go the way of lifetime benefits; “to the moon Alice!” Now is the time to sell as much of this benefit as you can, to as many clients and prospects as you can.  Your failure to do so constitutes malpractice by omission.

With the uncertainty of our current economic environment, traditional long-term care insurance provides an important basis for the consumer’s financial plan.  Speak to each and every prospect and client that you can about LTCi starting now; it will never get better than it is today!

To learn more about this critical subject, join us for a free webinar on Thursday, April 30 at 11:00 am titled “What’s Hot and What’s Not in Long-Term Care Insurance.”  Watch your email for registration link, or sign up now at http://www.bjfim.com/ce_class.php.

barry@paradigmins.com

With this in mind we need to look to new ideas and products that may cover more than one risk.  If you read my January and February Broker World articles you learned that a new generation of life insurance and annuity products linked with chronic illness benefits (long-term care insurance) are beginning to proliferate the marketplace. (If you don’t get the magazine email me at barry@paradigmins.com and I’ll get them to you).  The Pension Protection Act of 2006 will unleash a brave new world of life, annuity and long-term care insurance planning in the coming months. As you might expect we plan to be in the midst of it all.

One overarching theme of the changes is that agents and financial advisors will not be able to hide in their product silos.  If you are a long-term care insurance specialist get ready because you’re going to need to be in the life and annuity business.  If you’re in the life insurance business you will not be able to ignore chronic illness accelerated benefit riders. If you are in the annuity business your prospects and clients will want to know about combo products.  And, life and annuity agents will no longer be able to ignore traditional LTCi.  Products that include qualified long-term care (chronic illness) riders will require 8-hour LTCi certification just like traditional products do today.  You see if it quacks like long-term care insurance it is long-term care insurance!

So what are our plans at BJFIM/Paradigm?  First, the old man with the graying beard (yes I know I need a new picture on the website, thank you) is dusting off his life insurance and annuity memory banks in order to get up to speed on these new products. As I familiarize myself with them I will be working with the various insurance companies that we represent to train our marketing folks so that they can in turn help you as the need arises. Second, we will be contracting with the major life and annuity carriers that choose to be part of this product innovation.  The following companies already have linked/combo products and are part of our portfolio; Genworth, Lincoln Financial, Nationwide and State Life. Expect many more and expect us to be front and center with the best of them. Third, we will begin webinar and small seminar training sessions after April 15^th. We will keep you posted on the schedule. In the meantime, the best way to learn about these products is to just jump in, so if you think you have a case, contact your BJFIM/Paradigm marketing representative or send me an email,barry@paradigmins.com, or give me a call, (818) 444-7730.  If you have a prospect we’re ready to help you.

Creating a context for which product is suitable for the right client will be the greatest challenge that we face as we move forward. Apples to apples comparisons will be next to impossible. The key will be to focus on identifying the risk and then determining the factors that are most important to your client or prospect.  You may end up selling a combination of these programs to fulfill the consumer’s needs. Doing the right thing will take on a whole new meaning as these new forms of policies proliferate the insurance marketplace.

Is there hope and change? Probably not in Washington, DC but most certainly in the life/annuity and long-term care insurance business and I believe that it will be good for all of us.  We look forward to being of continued service and good cheer.

barry@paradigmins.com

(818) 444-7730

Here’s what we’ve learned in last the last few months:

The easiest way to open new sales opportunities is to ask a simple question each and every time you see a client or new prospect; “Do you have long-term care insurance?” This uncomplicated query has sold more long-term care insurance in the past few months than even I can believe.

You can simplify the long-term care insurance sales presentation.  As more of you subscribe to our Pool of Money Calculator, and use it, clients get the concept and you sell more.  The Calculator is the logical beginning to simple and straightforward explanation of the value proposition of long-term care insurance.

Our field tested sales presentations help any agent, novice or expert, take the basic concept of The Calculator and make a concise and cogent argument to consumers about why long-term care planning and long-term care insurance are important.

Multi-life long-term care insurance streamlines the underwriting process that can be so vexing when LTCi is sold on an individual basis.  More sales are made to morepeople more easily. You know what that means?  More income for you.

And despite the national angst and anxiety over the economy many consumers are acting to protect what’s left of their retirement income and assets against the financial ravages of an unplanned for long-term care event. One thing has become crystal clear to most; they cannot rely solely on their investments or home equity to pay for their long-term care. Long-term care insurance makes sense and is even more important to people who are planning for an uncertain retirement future. All agents and financial planners need to do is ask the questionand provide the best answers to their clients.

My upcoming Blogs will focus on the sales opportunities ahead of us in 2009 and beyond.  We have many.  They will include:

More multi-life LTCi and bigger and better sales.  We have the markets and the ways for you to make long-term care insurance an employer sponsored reality. Small and large employer groups can design LTCi benefit offerings that fit their budgets and provide significant benefits.

Linked products will be the buzz of the industry. These will include life + LTCi andannuity + LTCi combos.  Each, along with traditional long-term care insurance, will be suitable based on the client’s position in life, their resources and inclinations.  The sales process will be the same; the product solutions will vary.  You will want to catch my article(s) in January issue of Broker World on the topic of life + LTCi combos and next month on annuity + LTCi combos.  There will be a great deal of action and opportunity in this arena. Get ready for some fun and profit. (If you don’t receive BW, email me at barry@paradigmins.com and I’ll email you a copy).

We have an Inauguration Day Special Webinar (that’s for January 20^th for those of you not paying attention).  Give Susan and me an hour and we’ll help you lock onto the hottest opportunities in long-term care insurance for 2009; at least the ones we know about by the 20^th!  REGISTER TODAY!  We know who’s there which means we also know who’s not.  Your only excuse is if you are attending an inaugural ball in D.C.

Let me just say again it has been great working with all of you over the past year; that includes old friends and new. We made great progress in LTCi sales in 2008 and plan to keep the momentum moving forward. We appreciate efforts now let’s go get ‘em.

Happy New Year!  Here’s to a great 2009.

barry@paradigmins.com

Despite this, July and August have been our best LTCi submitted and paid months of the year, which is really great for those of you out there presenting long-term care insurance to your prospects and clients.  Multi-life sales have been robust and individual sales have followed suit. The agents profiting from this activity have learned a very valuable lesson; if you talk about LTCi, some folks will actually buy.  We?ve also learned that the sales methods and systems that we?ve developed and field tested resonate with your clients.  They are simple, easy and straightforward; they get the right messages to the right consumer.

But don?t think we?re resting on our recent successes.  We?re heading into Q-4 with three specific initiatives as the long awaited rebound in the long-term care insurance industry begins shifting into high gear. These new products and concepts should make it apparent to you that now is the best time to engage in or re-double your efforts in the LTCi sector.  In today?s Blog I will provide you with some brief highlights regarding this exciting news and in the coming weeks I will get into the details.

Transamerica Worksite Long-Term Care Insurance Is Back!

No, your eyes are not deceiving you.  Through a special agreement with Transamerica Worksite Marketing, BJFIM/Paradigm proudly adds Transamerica Long-Term Care Insurance to its growing portfolio of products and services.  Transamerica has re-introduced its individual LTCi product as a worksite offering (even though we can sell it on an individual basis).  The magic for TA Worksite long-term care insurance is modified guaranteed issue at 15+ lives. This means you now have an A+ rated alternative in the group LTCi market segment that provides you competitive pricing, individual first year commissions and vested renewal commissions.

More details to follow, but we will be conducting introductory webinars on the Transamerica LTCi programs in the coming weeks; CLICK HERE to register.

Don?t Count Genworth Long-Term Care Insurance Out!

We?re very pleased to announce that Genworth has re-configured its California Long-Term Care Choice product to make it more competitive in this market. As we?ve already announced, Genworth will be rolling out the changes in three separate meetings ? September 17^th(Irvine), September 18^th (Woodland Hills) and September 19^th (Emeryville).  These meetings will also feature Buck Stinson, President of Genworth Financial with industry updates.  You can register for one of these meetings clicking on this link or contact your BJFIM/Paradigm marketing representative for more details.

For Those Of You Doing Business Outside California We Introduce LifeSecure

LifeSecure, a wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan, has introduced an individual long-term care insurance product with features that I?ve been anticipating for a number of years.  If you are into sales simplification, LifeSecure is a product you will want to consider:

• Instead of purchasing a daily benefit, the insured chooses a benefit ?bank? of between $75,000 to $1,000,000.
• The monthly benefit is either 1%, 2% or 3% of chosen benefit bank.
• 90-day calendar day elimination period is the only choice.
• 3% or 5% automatic compound inflation protection benefits are available.

LifeSecure has also created illustration software that allows the agent to tailor a policy based on the client?s budget; a money-purchase function so to speak.  Additionally, applications can be completed on the broker?s laptop and transmitted directly to the insurance company using a voice signature function.  Multi-life is also on its way.

If you are selling long-term care insurance outside of California, LifeSecure is a product you will want to consider for your clients.  The product is pending approval in California and I?ll keep you posted on the progress.  We will be conducting webinars on LifeSecure in late September or early October so stay tuned.  In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact me directly by email, barry@paradigmins.com,

We look forward to working with you in Q-4 and beyond.

barry@paradigmins.com

Well, at last, a very patient guy from Texas, Ed Harris, CSA, CLTC, Genworth?s linked benefit product specialist, sat me down for about three hours to explain to me that I was missing the forest for the trees.  Ed started with a simple declarative statement, ?stop thinking like a long-term care insurance agent?.  ?You see?, Ed drawled, ?most people who purchase asset based long-term care insurance products have already said ?no?, at least once, to traditional products.  They are after another solution and if you want to make the sale you need to get your head out of the place it?s in.?

Ed has a singular perspective and a whole lot of experience in the linked product field. He was involved with the original development of MoneyGuard and then moved to Genworth where he helped create TLC.  He therefore has insights to product and consumer thinking that most of us have either overlooked or ignored; but more on Ed a bit later.

In my conversation with Ed I learned several rules that are now guiding us in seeing the market opportunities for asset based long-term care insurance solutions:

1.       Asset-Based LTCi Buyers Are Typically Older: The average age of issue for asset-based products is 67.  This differs from the typical purchaser of traditional LTCi by over a decade and, as the average age of issue for LTCi continues to drop, this disparity is likely to increase.

2.       Most Asset-Based LTCi Buyers Have Already Said ?NO? to Traditional LTCi: Well, the woods ought to be full of these folks right?  How many prospects have said to you that:

a.       Traditional long-term care insurance just doesn?t? make sense to them; or

b.       They think they can self-insure; or

c.       Since it isn?t going to happen to them they don?t want to spend the money on LTCi; or

d.       Who will get the money if I don?t use it?

e.       Or all of the above?

Based on the fact that traditional LTCi market penetration seems to be stuck at about 9% and the number of times agents have relayed these sad objections to me, between numbers 1 and 2 above, you should have a shopping basket full of prospects that fit this profile.

3.       Asset-Based LTCi Buyers Have At Least $1 Million In Investible Assets: This could be the     show stopper for many folks who adhere to the objections above. However, the fact is that in order for an asset-based solution to work the insured must be willing and able to reposition liquid assets to fund a MoneyGuard or TLC product. This is usually in the form of:

a.       A CD or emergency fund that they?ve set aside to pay for a long-term care event; or

b.       An under performing asset in their investment portfolio; or

c.       A liquid asset the client is willing to reposition because they see the need for some amount of long-term care leverage, but not traditional LTCi.

Of course, uncovering this money requires the agent to have knowledge of it, either through their ongoing planning activities with the client or through simple but skillful fact finding.  I plan to write about this in a future posting.

As you can see, an asset-based long-term care insurance solution isn?t for everyone and the best prospects for it may very well be people who you have already passed by. They?ve either said ?no? to traditional coverage or plan and hope to take care of the problem in a fashion more suited to their thinking.  Regardless, asset based clients are there, we just need to go find or rediscover them.

There?s one more issue that you might want to consider.  The asset-based or linked product market boom is nearly upon us.  Changes brought about by the Pension Protection Act are set to take place in 2010.  Carriers are scrambling to get ahead of each other with product offerings that will take advantage of the new tax favored status that life and annuity products with long-term care benefits will have bestowed upon them.  The need to become fluent in these programs and how they will interface with traditional LTCi products is fast approaching.

The good news is that Ed Harris has agreed to meet with 25 of our agents on June 25^th to help them learn the secrets of asset-based long-term care insurance sales success.  The requirement for attending the meeting is that you are appointed with BJFIM/Paradigm, have clients that fit the profile above and that you call me for details; (818) 444-7730.  Brokers will be given a ?seat at the table? on a first come first serve basis so don?t delay in getting in touch.

barry@paradigmins.com