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Re: What to look for?

Posted by Scott A. Olson, CLTC on November 29, 19100 at 19:17:13:

In Reply to: What to look for? posted by David on November 29, 19100 at 16:33:39:

In my opinion, David, I think the most important thing is to first choose a quality carrier. I think the best way to determine the quality of the carrier is to get answers to the following questions:

a) How does Weiss Research rate that carrier? Weiss is the toughest rating agency, so choose an insurer with a B minus rating or better.

b) How long has that insurer been offering LTCi? How many policyholders do they have? How much claims experience do they have? Have they ever raised their rates? Generally, you should be looking at companies that have AT LEAST 5 years experience with LTCi, preferably at least 10 years experience. You probably want a company that has at least 50,000 policyholders throughout the country and has at least $100,000,000 in claims experience. Ofcourse, you're better off with a company that has never raised rates on any of their policyholders.

As far as benefits are concerned, it is very easy to get all caught up in the bells and whistles that insurers add to their policies to try to make their policies stand out. FORGET THE BELLS AND WHISTLES.

The best thing to do is to focus on the CRITICAL benefits in a LTCi policy. Those critical benefits are: How long will the policy pay for care? How much will the policy pay per day of care? How will the policy benefits grow with inflation? And how long do you need to have care before the policy will begin to pay for the care?

When you are comparing policies make sure that all those factors are the same and that will greatly simplify the process.

I hope this has helped.

Scott A. Olson, CLTC

Follow Ups:

Re: What to look for? : In my opinion, David, I think the most important thing is to first choose a quality carrier. I think the best way to determine the quality of the carrier is to get answers to the following questions: : a) How does Weiss Research rate that carrier? Weiss is the toughest rating agency, so choose an insurer with a B minus rating or better. : b) How long has that insurer been offering LTCi? How many policyholders do they have? How much claims experience do they have? Have they ever raised their rates? Generally, you should be looking at companies that have AT LEAST 5 years experience with LTCi, preferably at least 10 years experience. You probably want a company that has at least 50,000 policyholders throughout the country and has at least $100,000,000 in claims experience. Ofcourse, you're better off with a company that has never raised rates on any of their policyholders. : As far as benefits are concerned, it is very easy to get all caught up in the bells and whistles that insurers add to their policies to try to make their policies stand out. FORGET THE BELLS AND WHISTLES. : The best thing to do is to focus on the CRITICAL benefits in a LTCi policy. Those critical benefits are: How long will the policy pay for care? How much will the policy pay per day of care? How will the policy benefits grow with inflation? And how long do you need to have care before the policy will begin to pay for the care? : When you are comparing policies make sure that all those factors are the same and that will greatly simplify the process. : I hope this has helped. : Scott A. Olson, CLTC

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