It's a family affair: Selling LTCI to parents and adult children

In some cases, parents consult with their children but still make the final decision. “It depends on what type of role the parents are playing,” says Schulman. “There’s no typical scenario. If I’m dealing with 65-year-old parents who have real wealth, then I’m not worried about the children making recommendations.” The most difficult situations can involve children who oppose LTCI and refuse to consider it. “If they’re half-listening and they just say, ‘You know what, I don’t care what you say,’ you move on,” Schulman says. “You just have to know when to cut your losses and then say to the parents: ‘Listen, he doesn’t want to have anything to do with this. Do we have a basis for discussion either with another child or with you? Or should I just pack my bags?’”

Creating opportunities
Lorie Davidson, an agent with Bankers Life & Casualty in Cedar Falls, Iowa, welcomes the chance to talk with prospects’ children because they are often in denial about long term care. Part of that denial stems from the notion that they will take care of their parents when the parents need help. Another factor is that many adult children still view LTCI solely as nursing home coverage. Once they learn about the policies’ flexibility, their resistance lowers.

“If I am able to talk to the kids, I can close it,” says Davidson. “They want to take care of their family; they don’t want to put Mom or Dad in the nursing home. They don’t know that long term care is pretty much every type of care outside the hospital.”

Davidson has also found opportunities to work with clients’ children. “I’ve been in the business long enough where I’m going to the children [to recommend LTCI] now because their parents are using it,” she says. “The younger they are, they’re either interested or not. But they’re becoming more aware of LTCI because many hospitals are closing their skilled nursing units. Home health care is becoming just phenomenal and we’re seeing a lot of new facilities to let people be independent and keep their dignity.”

Getting creative
It’s not just parents who initiate the multi-generational conversation about LTCI, says Terry Sandvold of Sandvold and Associates in St. Louis Park, Minn. He’s finding that as adult children realize the cost their parents face and how those costs are increasing, the kids themselves may recommend the purchase. In some cases, those adult children are willing to partially or fully fund the premiums. Custom-designing a shared-care policy that insures both generations is another option for working with each of them, in the right circumstances. Sandvold gives an example in which one parent is still alive and knows that she will be living with one of her unmarried children who will care for her in the future. By designing a policy with a shared-care feature, both parties can benefit from combined coverage. For example, if both the mother and child have 5-year benefits and the mother needs to use the coverage, she could combine the policies’ benefits for a 10-year period.

Each LTCI case is unique, but it’s not uncommon for senior prospects to ask for their adult children’s opinions on buying the coverage. As these pros show, that doesn’t mean it’s a lost sale. In fact, with the right response you have a chance at landing more than
one client.