Vehement Reactions To Gay Life Column

To The Editor:

What were you thinking about when you changed National Underwriter from an insurance publication to a vehicle for Steve Pionteks ultra-left-wing political agenda?

In the span of 2 editorials, which under the guise of a face-lift for the magazine is now upfront and prominent, it has disgraced the magazine more than anything I have see in more than 30 years as a loyal reader. From advocating gay & lesbian insurance companies (I doubt whether he would vote for male, black, Jewish, female, etc. insurance companies), to implying that there have been trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the rich that have caused trillions of dollars of debt, to virtually canonizing “Sex and The City.”

Is he on the payroll of the D.N.C.? All of the folks with similar political views as Mr. Piontek, would have destroyed the insurance industry a long time ago. Lets keep the partisan political demagoguery out of the magazine or suggest that Mr. Piontek write for the Village Voice, Al Jazeera or Terry McAuliffe.

Larry Halpern

Old Bridge, N.J.

Thanks

To The Editor:

I read with great interest your column, “A Whole New Meaning For Gay Life.” And, I very much agree with your suggestion that the time is right for an insurance agency geared toward gay and lesbian clients–so much so that I started such an agency last year!

LTC Funding Group, LLC, provides–primarily to the gay community–solutions for the payment of long term care expenses. Our focus is on LTC insurance, with additional business in the life settlement area. (Life settlements are a great way to assist clients who may not qualify for LTC insurance.) We also work in a General Agency capacity, to assist agents in the field with the sale of these products.

With gay partners not getting the same recognition as spouses in pensions, Social Security, Medicaid and other programs, LTC insurance becomes even more important for these clients. Without it, for example, a healthy partner may lose his or her home upon the illness of the other.

Demographically, LTC insurance also makes sense in the gay community, as: 1) clients in this market generally do not have children to rely upon as caregivers; 2) family support of any kind may not be available; and, 3) many of these clients have assets to protect!

Additionally, for many reasons, gay and lesbian individuals do not feel comfortable in a traditional nursing home setting. Therefore, the home care option offered in most LTC insurance policies is even more desirable for these clients. We present the option of LTC insurance, then, as a way for them to protect not only their savings but also their lifestyle. (Of course, we welcome “traditional” insurance business, too.)

Thanks to you, Steve, for bringing to light this important, growing and much underserved market segment.

Susan Wright, CLU, ChFC, RHU, REBC, CSA, CLTC, CCFC

Principal

LTC Funding Group, LLC

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 16, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.