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May 12, 2011 at 08:00 PM
Optimism. It permeated the 500 producers and marketing organizations at the American Association of Long-Term Care Insurance’s 2011 Summit. Chalk it up perhaps to the industry’s new “3 in 4″ campaign, or to the fact that, after a turbulent last year, companies and products seem stable and ready for prime time. Some might attribute this optimism to the simple fact that those in attendance were the survivors. And yet, I don’t think the word “optimistic” quite captures the spirit of the event. In fact, what was present was an emotion that hasn’t been witnessed for nearly a decade. Could it have been exuberance?
Acknowledging one person can’t cover a conference of this size in one column, four Summit presentations are touched upon below.
Presentation 1: “3 in 4 Need More”
One of the first events was the “3 in 4 Need More” campaign, a media event open to all program attendees. The campaign has broad support among industry insurers and distributors. Its goal is a “got milk?” -like campaign to inform Americans that health insurance isn’t enough. A highlight of the session was meeting campaign spokesperson Dr. Marion Somers, a long-term care planning advocate. Although millions of people need more than just health insurance, “The awareness gap is huge,” says Peter S. Gelbwaks, Advisory Board member of the 3in4 Association, promoter of the “3 in 4 Need More” campaign.
Presentation 2: Sales achievement
Since AALTCI is the industry’s trade organization, and its National LTCI Summit is the largest conference focused exclusively on selling and marketing long-term care insurance, one of the highlights of the event is always the sales awards, which this year included not only individuals, but also marketing organizations.
2011 Long-Term Care Insurance Agency Achievement Awards (for 2010 LTCI sales growth)
| Category |
Company |
Increase (%) |
| Sales Under $500,000 |
Capitol Metro Financial Services, Columbia, Md. |
93% increase |
| Sales $1 Million-$2.5 Million |
LTC Benefits Group, Inc., |
55% increase |
| Sales $2.5 Million-$5 Million |
Individual Commercial Brokerage Inc., Rockaway, N.J. |
34% increase |
| Sales $5 Million-$ 10 Million |
MasterCare Solutions, Inc., Portland, Ore. |
26% increase |
| Sales Over $10 Million |
LTCI Partners, LLC, |
32.5% increase |
2010 individual sales
No. 1: Tony Stratidis, managing partner with MS Consulting Group, Westport, Conn.
No. 2: Steve Elliott, Capstone Long-Term Care Consulting, San Diego, Calif.
No. 3: Chris Rew, Capstone Long-Term Care Consulting, Bailey, Colo.
2010 multi-life sales
No. 1: Tony Stratidis, managing partner with MS Consulting Group, Westport, Conn.
No. 2: Michael Van Greve, Affinity LTC, Lemoyne, Pa.
Presentation 3: Agents ask actuaries
In this session, actuary Dawn Helwig of Milliman answered such questions as, “Why are lapse rates so important?” Answer: If pricing assumes a 4 percent per year lapse rate, after 10 years, 66 percent of those issued are expected to be in force. If rate is actually 1 percent, after 10 years, 90 percent are in force. Twenty years out: a 4 percent lapse assumes 44 percent in force. A 1 percent lapse will result in 82 percent being in force — which means that about 85 percent more people will be around after 20 years with the lower assumption.
