Broadtower Base

Ron Hagelman

Muumuus

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“I know many of you have visions of a Grandmother or Aunt who wore one of those shapeless amorphous sack dresses. They covered a world of sins and no one really wanted to know exactly what was going on underneath. What we were sure of was that nothing really risky was ever going to see the light of day.

Here’s what we know: Shortly after HIPAA we had approximately 8 million folks who owned some form of LTCI. Twenty years later we still have about 8 million. For the last dozen or so years about a half million Americans per year have been buying some form of chronic illness protection. I don’t think anyone would argue that this could be described as a seriously flat market.

Active companies still trying to sell stand-alone individual accident and health policies can now be counted on fingers and toes, and those in the brokerage market on one hand. The only signs of life in the…”

Click here to read more, originally published in the June 2018 edition of Broker World Magazine.

Remedial Math

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“I strongly suspect that it’s not just death and taxes that Americans accept as inevitable. I believe there is a general cultural consensus that as we near the end of the journey there will be an inordinate level of expense and that it will have something to do with our declining health. Unfortunately, it does appear that the fear itself is nebulous, generalized and grossly underestimated.

I am also certain that those perceived future expenses have been jumbled all together and that medical expenses for acute /subacute out-of-pocket versus custodial care finances have all been tossed into the same vague mental tumbler. Clearing up this confusion is often where a sales process begins. It’s not one pot of money, there are two distinct financial potholes lying in wait over the horizon. Although we all too often begin the process with an insurance conversation about how much insurance we need for both  problems (sold separately), we usually end up with ‘How little can still do the job?’

Recent retirement surveys have estimated that for those 65 and older the aggregate cost of out of pocket medical expenses for a couple is…”

Click here to read more, originally published in the December 2017 edition of Broker World Magazine.

Just Say No

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“I have always been impressed by the single minded purpose and passion of our dwindling cadre of LTCI specialists. To my knowledge no one has stayed as laser focused and dedicated to basic reason, sometimes painful truths and necessary reform of the long term care financing conundrum as Stephen A. Moses, president of the Center for Long Term Care Reform. He has recently released a report for The Foundation for Government Accountability titled How to Fix Long-Term Care Financing.

Stephen’s message is, as usual, well documented, and his conclusions about the cause and effect of the poorly crafted, deservedly maligned and strategically counter-productive Medicaid federal boondoggle are “spot on.” This definitive analysis should be required reading for all those involved in the struggle to fix a system that is clearly broken. It has often been concluded in this column that there are no easy answers, no single strategy to turn around a system that clearly rewards bad behavior and inadvertently reduces the quality of care that should be its core mission. Stephen has convinced me that…”

Click here to read more, originally published in the October 2017 edition of Broker World Magazine.

The Point

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“Making the point is of course the mission of this column. I’m sure some would suggest I’ve simply kept attempting to make  the same point over and over without sympathy, empathy or remorse for my similarly unrepentant long term care friends that read this column. Therefore one more time:

  • The point remains we are facing a worldwide financial crisis of our own making. I take small doses of my blood pressure medications every eight hours because it’s a “maintenance” program—one among many that extends and maintains the longevity of individuals in each and every industrialized nation on this planet. None of us was in any way prepared for an aging population with numerically insufficient working adults to support the cost (or an adequate supply of caregivers) to provide the basic required services.”

Click here to read more, originally published in the September 2017 edition of Broker World Magazine.

Timing

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“Time worn clichés do have a way of appearing on a regular basis in this column. I am only marginally contrite but I do apologize. It’s just the convenience of immediately defining exactly the concept you are trying to illuminate. “Timing is everything!“

As a consultant to insurance companies  since 1988 and a veteran of the chronic illness wars, this is the one truth I know above all others. You must be “ready” to sell or subsequently buy. Truthfully it never really matters how great an idea you may have to offer.  If the circumstances surrounding the desire to take action are not ripe and fit almost perfectly into the current reality of the company or the consumer nothing meaningful is going to happen.”

Click here to read more, originally published in the August 2017 edition of Broker World Magazine.

Evita

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Don’t cry for me Argentina. The truth is I never left you. All through my wild days my mad existence I kept my promise, don’t keep your distance.

I guess it just seems too many appear to have somehow wandered off, lost purpose, ignored urgency and abandoned focus. Even though stand-alone LTCI sales have experienced substantial decline over the last 10 years, the truth is the relative number of consumers doing “something” and buying some level of protection to blunt the impact of the risk has been consistent.

Buyers of some level of chronic risk have been hovering around about a half a million Americans each year for over 10 years. Unfortunately the chronic risk conversation remains far too often a limited choice scenario. It may not be what is meant exactly but what I seem to hear from the field is: “I tried but it’s just so hard.” Rate increases, carrier flight, onerous underwriting and continued consumer confusion forced me to…

Click here to read more, originally published in the May 2017 edition of Broker World Magazine.

Armatures, Bricks and Firewalls

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“I am perpetually amazed at the degree of cognitive dissonance stirred up in my own mind every time I ask myself this most basic rhetorical question: How can anyone in their right mind ignore the probability of an expensive and extensive need for care?

The absolute unvarnished truth is that no matter how well you have constructed your plans for retirement and the disposition of your estate, an extended need for custodial assistance can blow up all your carefully crafted expectations.

A lifetime of savings and financial planning for retirement hopefully culminates in an introspective consideration of a classic estate plan that defines how assets are to be transferred to the people to whom you wish them to go, and when and under what circumstances you want them to go there.

Wills, powers of attorney, medical directives and trusts establish the mechanics and basic structure. Insurance strategies should then…”

Click here for the full article, originally published in the April 2017 edition of Broker World Magazine.

Volunteers

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“My prejudices and biases expressed repeatedly in this column concerning those who have chosen to make a difference in blunting the full force of chronic care are if nothing else well documented. However, I am not sure I have adequately expressed the well from which I continue to draw my eternal optimism and blind faith that we will get this done. It is simply because it has been my privilege and honor to know and hopefully help represent those who have chosen to stand up and confront what we believe constitutes America’s greatest threat to retirement security and financial peace of mind.

It requires being stated once again: “The common denominator for all LTCI specialists is the fervent and emotional degree to which they care about protecting others.” The only counting that was ever done was not based on premium but how many we had been able to shield from the storm which we know is approaching.

Click here for the full article, originally published in the February 2017 edition of Broker World Magazine.

Resolutions And Rants

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“It is that time again where many of us make promises to ourselves to hopefully reform our most aberrant concerns. These self-reflective and intended to be self-fulfilling prophecies are usually based on our oldest and most worrisome personal shortcomings. Topics which we have probably unsuccessfully attempted to address in the past. Therefore not categorizing by severity of concern or intentional personal bias, I would simply like to once again list those impediments and required resolutions which clearly block a path forward to solve America’s chronic illness conundrum.

Let’s begin with the observation that usually gets me booed from the stage. Our industry far too often…”

Click here for the full article, originally published in the January 2017 edition of Broker World Magazine.

A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing – The Last Word On LTCi

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“Indeed something profound, devious and game changing is happening quietly that will forever alter the trajectory of chronic illness planning. On multiple occasions in this column I have taken the position that all life and health agents should be required to be “certified” and held to a basic fiduciary standard concerning the necessity of addressing long term care risk.

I have also frequently suggested that all that is required to accomplish this goal is to remove one word—“not”—from the sentence in the Suitability provisions of the Model Regulations that states that (101g) life riders are “not” LTCI. This well-known deceit could…”

Click here for the full article, originally published in the December 2016 edition of Broker World Magazine.