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LTC Benefits – Won’t Lose It If You Don’t Use It

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One challenge with presenting the need for long-term care is that it is viewed as a risk, not a certainty. It’s not that your clients don’t want the coverage, but convincing someone to allocate funds towards something they may never use can be a difficult objection to overcome.

Good news – Asset Based Long-Term Care (LTC) with Guaranteed Premiums paid for life is here. It allows your clients to use the LTC benefit if needed – and if they don’t, they can leave the death benefit or accumulated value to their estate.

Clients receive a guaranteed amount of life insurance. All of which may be used for qualifying long-term care expenses – also, the premium is credited with a guaranteed interest rate, raising the cash value each month.

With the use of the OneAmerica Care Solutions® Rate Calculator, financial advisors can run a quote for key Asset-Care individuals anywhere, anytime.

Plus, get an easy to understand take-home guide for your clients.

Access the OneAmerica® Care Solutions Calculator and run a quote today.

Contact your LTC Sales & Marketing team to learn more.

Webinar – Aug 8th | EssentialLTC Product Training Series

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EssentialLTC Product Training Webinar: Carving Out Your Pie

Tuesday, August 8th 2017
10.00 AM – 10.30 AM PST
REGISTER HERE

Join Broadtower Insurance Solutions and LifeCare Assurance as we visually explore the NGL EssentialLTC product with the brand new Benefits Buddy tool. We will specifically slice into executive carve out sales for all business types. This is a session you won’t want to miss!

Presented by:
Matt Anderson, Broadtower Insurance Solutions President
&
Marc Glickman, VP of Business Development at LifeCare

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.

Continental Drift

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“We need a good visual to begin this conversation. Maybe Charleston Heston parting the Red Sea exposing dry ground or the inexorable movement of tectonic plates with continents drifting slowly but surely apart.

Bottom line is we cannot ignore the obvious—there are two polar ends of our expanding chronic illness universe. American’s choosing to do something about an obvious risk has, as we know, stayed fairly consistent over the last ten years at about a half a million new owners of some form of protection each year. Rising premiums flavored by the necessity of rigid underwriting have continued to expose the reality of the socio-economic elitism of chronic illness risk abrogation.

Clearly those better educated, with more money to protect both themselves and their parents, have developed a …”

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

TransCare® III Updates

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Important Updates Direct from Transamerica…

“Transamerica remains committed to you and to the long term care insurance market. As such, it’s important that we modify our premium rates for new TransCare® III business to remain competitive within the marketplace. These rate changes will also maintain consistency in our pricing across our product portfolio.

Revised rates for new sales of TransCare III will become effective July 3, 2017. To receive old rates, applications must be received in good order by close of business June 30, 2017. Previously saved quotes on TransQuote® will no longer be available starting July 3, 2017.

This change applies to the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. We will inform you as approvals are received for the remaining states.

New application and disclosure packages will be required. To access the new packages, please visit www.taltc.com. Old versions of the application and disclosure packages will no longer be accepted after June 30, 2017.

Thank you for your business and your trust in Transamerica.”

GENWORTH Compliance with Department of Labor Fiduciary Rule – ACTION REQUIRED

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NOTE: For New Genworth Income Assurance Sales funded with qualified money.

On June 9, 2017, certain provisions of the Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule (the “Rule”) and amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-24 (“PTE 84-24”) will become effective and applicable. The Rule and, in particular, PTE 84-24 will ONLY apply to transactions involving fixed annuities that use qualified assets from an employee benefit plan under Section 3(21)(A)(ii) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”) or Roth IRA, or will be purchased within an IRA or Roth IRA.

Attestation Required

Effective on June 9, 2017, Genworth will require all agents/producers that effect a purchase, sale or other transaction in a fixed annuity that is covered under the Rule to provide Genworth with a written attestation that such covered transaction conforms to all applicable provisions of the Rule and PTE 84-24. Applications that are received by Genworth without the executed attestation, including applications for the Income Assurance Immediate Need Annuity, will be considered “Not In Good Order.”

A copy of the required attestation can be found HERE.

Template PTE 84-24 Disclosure

Among other things, PTE 84-24 requires the agent/producer to provide his or her client with certain disclosures related to the covered transaction. The PTE 84-24 disclosure document (the “Disclosure”) must be completed by the agent/producer and signed by his or her client.

Genworth has created a template for the Disclosure that can be used in the sale of its Income Assurance Immediate Need Annuity. An agent/producer may use the template or any other form that satisfies the requirements of the Rule and PTE 84-24. Genworth WILL NOT require the submission of the completed and signed Disclosure. If the agent/producer submits the Disclosure to Genworth, Genworth will review the information and, if inaccurate, will consider the application “Not In Good Order.”

A copy of Genworth’s template PTE 84-24 disclosure can be found HERE.

Requirements of the Rule and PTE 84-24

The agent/producer must comply with certain provisions and requirements under the Rule and PTE 84-24, including, but not limited to, the following:

The Impartial Conduct Standards

  • The agent/producer must act as a fiduciary and in the best interest of the client;
  • The agent/producer must not make any materially misleading statements; and
  • The agent/producer must disclose all material conflicts of interest.

General Conditions

  • The combined total of all fees and compensation received by the agent/producer, the Brokerage General Agent (“BGA”) or Insurance Agency and, if applicable, the Independent Marketing Organization (“IMO”), must be reasonable within the meaning of ERISA Section 408(b)(2) and Internal Revenue Code Section 4975(d)(2).

Conditions for Transactions

  • The agent/producer must disclose in writing to the client that he or she is an agent of, but not an affiliate of, the insurance company issuing the annuity;
  • The agent/producer must itemize and disclose in writing to the client the percentages or dollar amounts of compensation that will be received by the agent/producer, the BGA and, if applicable, the IMO for the first year and for any renewal periods;
  • The agent/producer has disclosed in writing a description of any charges, fees, discounts, penalties or adjustments that may be imposed under the annuity contract; and
  • The client must acknowledge in writing that he or she has received these written disclosures.

Recordkeeping

  • The agent/producer must maintain, in a manner reasonably accessible for audit and examination, the records regarding the transaction for a period of no less than six years from the date the annuity contract is issued.

We encourage all agents/producers to consult with their firm’s legal and compliance contacts to ensure compliance with the Rule and PTE 84-24. More information about the Rule and PTE 84-24 can be found on the Department of Labor’s website. The Department of Labor has established a page dedicated to the Rule, which can be found HERE.

Transamerica Employee Benefits News

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Express Designs: Simple for Small Business

Transamerica Express Designs are streamlined product designs based on what we’ve learned small businesses need most. Based on research into which claims are filed most often, we created paperless, hassle-free benefit enrollment solutions.

Express Designs are designed to be easy to use with electronic enrollment and administration through our in-house TransApp system and other approved platforms. Prepackaged designs mean faster policy issue (and faster commissions).

We offer dedicated client relationship managers, customized marketing, employer-friendly enrollment, multiple billing options, online claims, and competitive commissions.

Critical Illness Insurance that’s easy to get, pay for, and keep.

In an era of high deductible health plans, families may be walking a financial tightrope. Critical Illness Insurance can make up part of a safety net for when life delivers the unexpected, like a heart attack, stroke, or even cancer.

Struggling to cover housing, transportation costs, and the expenses of daily living can be hard enough. But add the stress of a critical illness, high deductibles, copays, and coinsurance, and that delicate balancing act can quickly fall apart. By providing extra insurance to cover potential costs arising from a covered illness, critical Illness insurance can help employees feel confident their health and their finances can bounce back.

Did you know?

According to a survey released by the U.S. Federal Reserve in 2016, nearly half of Americans said they couldn’t cover a $400 emergency expense, or they would have to sell something or borrow to cover it.

Contact Broadtower Today

We value our relationship with your firm and look forward to sharing new and innovative ways to serve your clients. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Ronald R. Hagelman, Jr.
rhagelman@broadtowerinsurance.com

Kathy Brooks
kbrooks@broadtowerinsurance.com

Barry J. Fisher
bfisher@broadtowerinsurance.com

Matt Anderson
manderson@broadtowerinsurance.com

Musings

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“Perhaps a leisurely perambulation through the fevered mind of a demented and unrepentant Long Term Care Insurance Specialist is in order. A stream of consciousness laundry list of continuing frustrations that haunts our chosen corner of wholesale insurance distribution. An attempt to at least catalogue what we rise to do each day, what we attempt to accomplish, and why we insist on not giving up on what we perceive as America’s largest unprotected risk. And why, in the face of diminishing courage and sporadic commitment among the providers of independent chronic illness insurance product, we tenaciously persist.”

Click here to read more, originally published in the June 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.