If you haven’t incorporated long-term care planning into your practice, 2007 may be the perfect time. The insurance industry is experiencing many changes that could result in an increase in long-term care insurance (LTCI) sales for those who are ready for them. Commonwealth is here to help you take advantage of these changes and to help support the growth of your individual practice.

Although the long-term care industry has seen its sales remain flat in recent years, Commonwealth has continued to see a significant uptick in the amount of LTCI sold. To me, this is not surprising. As financial professionals, you are in the perfect position to discuss risk management and planning with clients. And, whether your client is 50 or 80, he or she needs a plan in place to pay for care when he or she gets sick.

2007 MAY BE A VERY GOOD YEAR FOR LTCI SALES
According to the Eighth Annual Survey of the individual long-term care industry conducted by Broker World magazine, 2007 should see an increase in LTCI sales—finally! With the emergence of new products from leading insurers who offer coverage for long-term care, budgetary and qualification changes within Medicaid, increased support from other professionals—such as CPAs and attorneys—and the recent approval of a national partnership program through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005,* it is no wonder that clients are more open to talking about what for years has been a “taboo” subject.

Previously, many clients did not want to talk about what might happen if they were to get sick; therefore, financial professionals had difficulty broaching the subject. Now the concern about outliving one’s retirement is very real for most—even without considering the impact that the cost of a long-term care illness might have.

*Partnerships are a special type of LTCI policy that offer asset protection to policyholders who buy them. If the consumer buys a partnership LTCI policy, and uses these benefits on the policy, he or she can protect personal assets from being spent down to Medicaid guidelines. As of this writing, only four states offer these types of policies (CA, CT, IN, and NY), but other states were approved to sell them when 2005 legislation was passed.

WE’RE HERE TO SERVE YOU
Commonwealth has several insurance product specialists and case managers to answer your questions about LTCI. We have found ways to improve our ability to support this aspect of your practice—from education, forms administration, and increased long-term care prequalification support, to a faster and easier way to process your licensing paperwork.

Insurance sales education. Because of your growing interest, Commonwealth offered another Certification in Long-Term Care class in December 2006 to help you incorporate long-term care planning into your practice. In addition, we have begun to offer “insurance education workshops” with our specialists, via phone, that provide you with comprehensive education in all areas of insurance planning. And we will continue to organize teleconferences with our vendors to keep you apprised of new products, including LTCI policies and the various hybrid products that are increasing in popularity.

Updated insurance forms. To make the application process a bit easier, Commonwealth has subscribed to a cutting-edge program for insurance forms management. Now you can download most new business forms from COMMunity Link^®—24 hours a day, 7 days a week—through our new vendor, iPipeline. This forms engine is available by going to Research & Investments > Insurance Products and clicking on More Information under the Long-Term Care heading. It is a fast and reliable way to get all of the forms you need to write an insurance case—whether LTCI or life insurance.

LTCI prequalification assistance. We have always been able to pick up the phone and discuss your client’s medical background with an underwriter at the insurance companies to find out whether or not an application should be submitted and at what rate class. And we have been very successful in this area—as evidenced by our above-industry average of an 80-percent placement ratio!

We would like to continue to increase the number of cases approved, as we assist you in obtaining as much of your client’s pertinent medical information upfront—so that the client has realistic expectations of his or her ability to qualify for LTCI and understands what it will cost. Although there is no guarantee of insurability until a complete review of your client’s medical history, we have begun using My LTC Underwriter, which will help you gather as much relevant information as early in the process as possible.

We can easily e-mail you the insurance companies’ guidelines for any of the conditions listed in their underwriting guides. This will provide you with the right questions to ask clients to determine if insurance is an option for them and which company might be the best fit.

Non-resident licensing made simpler. As we look to make writing insurance business easier, helping you get properly licensed and subsequently appointed to sign and conduct LTCI business with a carrier in a new state are the two most important goals. And, yes, sometimes the process takes longer than we would like—when working with state insurance departments, there are many things that are not in our control. Commonwealth’s Licensing department, however, can help to eliminate your administrative burden by getting your non-resident licenses set up with minimal information and paperwork from you.

If you visit the Maintaining My Practice > Licensing section on COMMunity Link, you can input just a few pieces of information—and we’ll handle the rest! The vast majority of states now allow for electronic submission of non-resident applications, greatly reducing the turnaround time from four to six weeks to four to six days. You can even track the status of your license on COMMunity Link through Work in Progress.

GET READY TO SEIZE THE MOMENT
As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, many elements are coming together to make this a perfect time for making a big push in the LTCI area. To take advantage of this opportune moment, Commonwealth will continue to create ways of helping you stay ahead of the curve. We can arm you with the necessary information and simplify the process as much as possible. We encourage you to use these enhancements in the upcoming year. They can help you find new opportunities with your clients and improve upon some of the processes already in place.

Make the passage into 2007 one that embraces change, and find more ways to create success for your business and your clients’ overall planning.