Industry expert suggests carriers and advisors need to get with the program when it comes to selling LTC insurance because the need for it’s not going away
A new survey provides overwhelming evidence that Canadians are extremely concerned about the long-term care challenges seniors face and yet the insurance industry is doing little to ensure our aging population does so gracefully.
"It is certainly fitting that we're meeting in Charlottetown where our forefathers sowed the seeds of confederation," said Bob Nutbrown, a member of the PEI Nursing Home Association. "Caring for our seniors is one of the most important things we can do as a society, and according to this survey, Canadians want government to do more."
The Canadian Alliance for Long Term Care surveyed 1,000 Canadians in July about this subject. Ninety-three percent believe that the federal government should work with the provinces to ensure that Canadians have access to the same level and quality of long term care regardless of where they live in Canada.
That’s an admirable thought but it’s hardly realistic given our health care system is already stretched to the limits. Somebody’s got to pay for long-term care but it’s not likely that the government, federal or provincial, is going to come to the rescue of hard-working Canadians.
Thus, advisors and insurance carriers have an opportunity to play the knight in shining armour.
“It’s been positioned as an elitist product [LTC insurance] where people mistakenly believe the premiums are going to be $4,000 or more a month and that’s not affordable. Advisors hear this stuff and don’t want to go there,” LTC expert Karen Henderson told LHP. “The fact of the matter is the product has become much more flexible, much more affordable, much more adaptable.”
Henderson believes that advisors who educate themselves about how the product works and understand inside and out the differences between the policies offered by the handful of companies that sell LTC insurance will do right by their clients.
Unfortunately, carriers don’t make it easy for advisors providing almost no marketing or product support for LTC insurance.
“Long-term care insurance is not being marketed today,” said Henderson. “Since Sun Life dropped their specialist program a couple of years ago for the third time, nobody is selling LTC insurance.”
"It is certainly fitting that we're meeting in Charlottetown where our forefathers sowed the seeds of confederation," said Bob Nutbrown, a member of the PEI Nursing Home Association. "Caring for our seniors is one of the most important things we can do as a society, and according to this survey, Canadians want government to do more."
The Canadian Alliance for Long Term Care surveyed 1,000 Canadians in July about this subject. Ninety-three percent believe that the federal government should work with the provinces to ensure that Canadians have access to the same level and quality of long term care regardless of where they live in Canada.
That’s an admirable thought but it’s hardly realistic given our health care system is already stretched to the limits. Somebody’s got to pay for long-term care but it’s not likely that the government, federal or provincial, is going to come to the rescue of hard-working Canadians.
Thus, advisors and insurance carriers have an opportunity to play the knight in shining armour.
“It’s been positioned as an elitist product [LTC insurance] where people mistakenly believe the premiums are going to be $4,000 or more a month and that’s not affordable. Advisors hear this stuff and don’t want to go there,” LTC expert Karen Henderson told LHP. “The fact of the matter is the product has become much more flexible, much more affordable, much more adaptable.”
Henderson believes that advisors who educate themselves about how the product works and understand inside and out the differences between the policies offered by the handful of companies that sell LTC insurance will do right by their clients.
Unfortunately, carriers don’t make it easy for advisors providing almost no marketing or product support for LTC insurance.
“Long-term care insurance is not being marketed today,” said Henderson. “Since Sun Life dropped their specialist program a couple of years ago for the third time, nobody is selling LTC insurance.”
