IMSA Issues New LTC Guide For Consumers And Producers

IMSA Issues New LTC Guide For Consumers And Producers

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One thing Brian Atchinson came away with after attending a number of insurance industry meetings is that consumers are largely misinformed about where funding for potential long term care needs will come from.

Atchinson is the executive director of The Insurance Marketplace Standards Association, Washington, a watchdog group that sets and maintains ethical standards for the life insurance and annuities and long term care insurance product industry. Its members are life insurance companies.

He says this realization was the impetus behind a new consumer guide from the association that is meant to clarify the product for consumers and assist LTC insurance producers at point of sale.

“What surprised me is how many people presume that the government will provide for them,” Atchinson says. “People presume Medicare covers more than it does. They have a propensity to blur the lines and misunderstand whats available.”

Although he finds this has been the case for some time, Atchinson also has noticed that more and more people are starting to think at a younger age about what their future LTC needs are going to be.

“There is a growing understanding (that LTC insurance) is a good part of planning and addressing needs,” he says. “More and more boomers are confronting the reality that they will have needs.”

The guide provides information in an unbiased, objective way, Atchinson says.

“The decision to buy LTC insurance is usually made over a period of time after careful consideration, often in consultation with an agent or financial planner, and people are looking for objective information to help them with making the decision,” he says.