Carrier Updates

A note from the desk of Marty Johnson, VP Individual Underwriting with Mutual of Omaha.

Throughout the rapidly evolving pandemic, Mutual of Omaha has been continuously evaluating our underwriting and new business practices to support business continuity, deliver a consistently high level of service, and maintain our financial strength.

As a result, effective Thursday, April 16, 2020, we are implementing a temporary change. We will not be accepting LTC applications for individuals age 65 and older. All LTC cases not already approved or issued will be postponed and processed as an incomplete application.

We will continue to prequalify applicants 64 and younger. The prequalification will be good for 60 days. If the health of the client changes or the prequalification is past 60 days, you will need to prequalify the applicant again.

Below are some important reminders:

• The temporary changes above are in addition to the guidance on COVID-19 announced on March 24th.
• If the proposed insured or any member of his or her household has traveled or resided outside of the United States within the past 30 days, the application will be postponed until 30 days following their return.
• If the proposed insured or any member of his or her household has come into close contact with anyone known to the insured to have tested positive for COVID-19, the application will be postponed until 30 days following their exposure.
• In addition, anyone testing positive for the COVID-19 virus or those who have been hospitalized or quarantined for the virus will have their application postponed for a minimum of 90 days.

Thank you for your flexibility and understanding as we all continue to adapt to changing conditions. We hope to be able to return to normal as soon as possible.

– Marty Johnson, VP Individual Underwriting with Mutual of Omaha

The countdown is on – in two weeks, OneAmerica will be making two key changes to the Continuation of Benefit (COB) options on their Annuity Care II product, and they want to make sure you’re prepared.

The changes will go into effect on April 25, 2020, and reflect OneAmerica’s commitment to good stewardship, the viability of their products, and being there when their customers need them most.

What You Need To Know

Prepare for the changes.

Take time to review what’s changing, along with which states are affected, transition rules to follow, and more.  OneAmerica’s comprehensive fact sheet covers these key details.

What’s not changing?

OneAmerica’s commitment to lifetime benefits is as strong as ever.  While they are making changes to their Annuity Care II COB options, longer duration periods are still available with lifetime benefits on both their Annuity Care and Indexed Annuity Care products.

We wanted to give you a heads-up that effective Monday, March 16, 2020, Lincoln Financial announced a pricing update for Lincoln MoneyGuard® III and Lincoln MoneyGuard® II (2020) in CA.  NY is not in-scope for this pricing update.   Important to note they will have a 11 day transition period that began on Monday, March 16, 2020, and ending Friday, March 27th.  We’ve provided official transition info and pricing info below.  Now is as good a time as any to remind you that we rolled out e-App last month (not available in CA or NY) and as Advisors begin shifting to virtual meetings with their clients, tools like e-App and e-Delivery are becoming invaluable.

Pricing Updates

Pricing adjustments will result in a price increase between 0-9%.

Single pays will see an increase of 8-9%.

Flexible premium payments will see an increase that trends down as the duration of payments is extended:

• 5-pays increase 6.5%
• 10-pays increase 4.5%
• 15-pays increase 3.0%
• 20-pays increase 1.5%
• 25-pays increase 0.5%

Transition Guidelines

There is a transition period which began on March 16, 2020, and ends on March 27, 2020. Important items to be aware of regarding the Transition Guidelines are listed below:

• For applications to qualify for the current Lincoln MoneyGuard® II (2020) pricing, a projection of values and the completed Part 1 must be signed, dated, and received in-good-order by Lincoln’s home office by Friday, March 27, 2020.
• For pending or issued business, after March 16, 2020, Lincoln will accept requests with a revised projection of values to change to Lincoln MoneyGuard® II (2020) – 03/16/20 pricing.
• For placed business, normal internal replacement guidelines apply. Rewrites will not be accepted.
• Ensure that you are appropriately credentialed.  Clients of financial professionals who are not properly credentialed to solicit business when the paperwork is submitted will be subject to the premium rates in effect on the date when the financial professional becomes properly credentialed and resubmits the paperwork.
• Remember that once an application is submitted, the Personal History Interview (PHI) must be completed within 60 days of submission.  In addition, the case must be placed within 90 days of the PHI. If these conditions are not met, the case will be closed out.  If a case is reopened, a new Part 1 must be submitted, and the case will be subject to the product available at that time.

If you want to discuss the pricing changes, concierge care coordination or e-app capabilities, please contact our Sales Team.

Click here to access Lincoln’s LTC Resource Library

Mutual of Omaha’s LTC Media Kit – Helping you recruit, train and retain the best producers.

2021 Producer Incentive Trip

While your producers help their clients with long-term care insurance needs in 2020, they can also earn their way to an amazing summer getaway with Mutual of Omaha to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in June 2021.

If they’re one of Mutual of Omaha’s top 10 long-term care producers in 2020, they can pack their bags for an awe-inspiring journey to the heart of the Grand Tetons.

Materials to help promote this exciting incentive trip can be found on the Marketing Solutions Center at the link below.

Read More >>

New Long-Term Care Consumer Video

You asked for help introducing to your clients the need for long-term care insurance, and Mutual of Omaha heard you. So they’re excited to introduce this new consumer video to help explain the need and the details of this great product.

Your producers can use it in a face-to-face setting, include it as the kick-off for an LTC seminar or attach it to an email prior to meeting with a client. Introduce the video to your producers, then put it to work during LTC Awareness Month and beyond.

You’ll find more information about the video and how to watch it here >>

Questions? Contact Me:
Matt Anderson | President | Broadtower Insurance Solutions, Inc.
manderson@broadtowerinsurance.com
(949) 223-6140

Long-Term Care Updates from NGL

NGL has exciting plans for their long term care product in 2020, including enhancing their technology offerings, building and implementing robust sales and marketing plans and growing the business.

New this year they have an experienced NGL team in place who are dedicated to long term care sales and marketing. If you haven’t already heard from them, Joe, Lori or Lawrence will be reaching out to you in the upcoming weeks to learn how they can best offer training and application materials, guides, etc. to make selling NGL’s EssentialLTC long term care product easier for you.

Joe Guyotte, National Sales Manager – Individual Markets
jguyotte@nglic.com | 608.443.5023
Joe has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry working for some of the nation’s largest insurance distributors. He is dedicated to building positive working relationships with clients and customers. Click here to read more about Joe.

Lori Gubash, National Sales Vice President
lmgubash@nglic.com | 608.218.4559
Lori has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry as a producer and manager. She has spent the last 11 years solely focused on long term care planning. Click here to read more about Lori.

Lawrence Vivenzio, Business Development Specialist
lgvivenzio@nglic.com | 608.443.4799
Lawrence has devoted his entire professional career to the Long Term Care insurance industry. His broad range of experience includes agent training, field sales, consumer education and enrollment assistance.

Also available to you as a valuable reference material is an EssentialLTC contact sheet with contact information for everyone who can answer any questions you may have regarding NGL sales, agent services, contracting, commissions, policy, underwriting and supplies.

Remember, the Broadtower team is here to help you succeed and make sure you have the materials needed as you meet with clients.

Contact Me
Matt Anderson | President | Broadtower Insurance Solutions, Inc.
manderson@broadtowerinsurance.com
(949) 223-6140

November is LTC Awareness Month!

Mutual of Omaha is celebrating LTC Awareness Month by adding some promotional pieces you can share with your producers, which will help them create awareness for the need for long-term care insurance. Soon, you’ll be able to share:

• “Start the Conversation” Flyer
• Marketing Solution Center campaign
• A brand-new need for long-term care video*
• Mutual of Omaha Claims Data flyer*

Materials currently pending consumer-use approval.*

Look for Mutual of Omaha’s LTC Awareness promotions beginning late October.

LTC Real Wins

The average worker gets over 100 emails a day so it’s easy to miss (or ignore) one or two here and there, especially when you’re focusing on meeting client needs. But one email we want to call out is our new campaign, LTC Real Wins.

Designed to give you real world examples of successful client scenarios, LTC Real Wins can help you close your next deal. You can use these as conversation starters with your customers.

Look for the first installment this month.

LTC Underwriting Operation Teleconference

Join Mutual of Omaha for the next installment of their bi-monthly teleconference series with our underwriters!

This month’s teleconference information:

Common Application Deadlines
Thursday, October 17 | 10 a.m. CT
Dial: 1-866-220-3018 | Conference ID: 6382797

A broad communication from Lincoln MoneyGuard went out and contained this information. Additional launch details including marketing materials can be found on the MoneyGuard Launchpad at http://lfg.com/mglaunchpad.  

Lincoln MoneyGuard will be making pricing adjustments leading to a cost increase – the weighted average increase is about 7% between ages 50 – 70. Overall, the pricing change range in this core market is between 0% to 20% depending on several factors, including age, gender, marital status, and funding schedule.

With these design changes, some sales opportunities have improved for certain benefit periods and inflation options, for example, the 5-year benefit period and 5% compound inflation availability.

This change will take place in every state except New York and California.

What California should know
All MoneyGuard II sales are valid only if submitted no later than 11/15/19 in good order and placed and paid by December 31st.  Please anticipate that California will need to adopt a MoneyGuard II compliant product by the end of the year so the information above about price adjustments WILL soon be relevant. Any cases not placed by year end will have to proceed with the new product and pricing.

What New York should know
All MoneyGuard Reserve sales are valid only if submitted no later than 11/15/19 in good order and placed and paid by December 31st.  Please anticipate that New York will need to adopt a new, compliant product by the end of the year so the information above about price adjustments WILL soon be relevant. Any cases not placed by year end will have to proceed with the new product and pricing.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Click here to view the NEW Lincoln’s LTC Solutions website