How to Talk to Your Clients about Long Term Care

Hi everyone, Allison Shipman here with Empower Brokerage. Today we’re here with the Paul Manginelli and he’s going to talk about long term care, and how you, the agent, can easily talk to your clients about it.

Paul Defines Long Term Care

The standard definition of long term care has been set by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Long term care specifically applies to those who are unable to perform two activities of daily living (ADL) for at least ninety days or someone who has a severe cognitive impairment like Alzheimer’s or dementia. The six ADLs include bathing, dressing, eating toileting, transferring in and out of bed or a chair, and continence. Someone’s ability, or inability rather, to perform these activities is determined by their doctor, not by the insurance company.

How Do Agents Prepare Their Clients for Long Term Care?

Agents ask me that quite often. How do I discuss long term care with my clients? Do not mention “long term care” because it has a negative connotation. Historically, it has always been thought of as nursing home care. However, this is comprehensive care. It will cover home care, assisted living, and a nursing home. So, the way that you want to approach it when you talk to your client is if you should need care, who’s going to care for you, and how are you going to pay for it? Those are the two most important questions. If you need long term care, who’s going to care for you and how are you going to pay for it?

Again, when you talk to your clients, don’t mention long term care. The way you want to discuss it is, “Let’s talk about funding an extended care event.” They’ll likely ask you what an extended care event is. At which point, you respond, “Well, you know Mr. Jones or Mrs. Jones, if you need care today, how are you going to pay for it, and who’s going to care for you? Where’s the money going to come from? Let’s talk about funding the extended care event.” That will open the conversation for all the different products that are available.

What Is the Cost of Long Term Care?

This is where, as an agent, you really must do your fact finding. You need to find out what’s important to your client and if it’s suitable for them. Long term care is a suitability product so you need to make sure that they have the income to support it. So, the general rule of thumb is, clients should not be paying more than approximately 7-10% of their income on long term care.