Close Close
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
ThinkAdvisor

Life Health > Long-Term Care Planning

Study Highlights Voluntary LTC Market

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

NU Online News Service, Jan. 31, 10:10 a.m. – Eastbridge Consulting Group Inc., Avon, Conn., has released a study that probes the current state of the voluntary long-term care market, including the practices and opinions of product providers.

“While there is a lot of talk about long-term care, we found that only a handful of worksite carriers and producers are selling much of it,” says Eastbridge Vice President Bonnie Brazzell. “In fact, opinions are mixed on whether long-term care will be a ?significant’ voluntary product.”

While long-term care is a “hot” topic in the media and trade press, most of the attention has focused on the individual consumer sale. The Eastbridge study, “Long-Term Care Insurance and Worksite Marketing: Carrier Strategies,” assesses the product from a worksite marketing perspective.

The study found that half of the top 25 worksite carriers offer a long-term care product. About two-thirds offer a standalone policy; the remainder offer a long-term rider. As a whole, these carriers report sales results “in-line” with expectations and, despite lower expectations for 2001-2002, due to a weakening economy and consumer confidence, most are optimistic about the future of the product.

Those carriers that don’t currently offer long-term care insurance are quite skeptical about its viability as a standalone product, citing the average age of the worksite buyer, the complexity of the product, and its cost as deterrents to worksite sales success. Despite these reservations, however, many of these carriers are considering developing a long-term care product, the study finds. Only a few worksite carriers have no plans to add the product to their portfolios.

Given the mix of uncertainty and potential, the study warns companies to enter the market with realistic expectations and well-grounded assumptions.

“Long-term care is a complex product,” says Brazzell. “As such, it requires careful attention to government regulations, consumer education, distributor needs, etc. What does this mean for carriers? Make sure to have the required resources, commitment, and patience in place before entering the marketplace.”


NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.