Long term care insurance
Long term care insurance can be an extremely useful type of coverage for some clients. The number of companies who offer standard LTC insurance products is declining as a result of poor lose ratios. Luckily, there are now a number of companies with hybrid LTC plans or deposit based LTC. Both products provide the client with more options when it comes to covering the risks associates with LTC.
Traditional Long Term Care plans:
Traditional LTC insurance charges a monthly or annual premium in return for a set benefit. This benefit covers the cost of both long term and home health care in the event it is needed. Comprehensive LTC policies allow for daily and monthly benefits to be adjusted to the insured’s needs. Purchasers can add a number of benefits to their plans such as; home healthcare riders, shared care and inflation options. One of the negatives of traditional policies is that the purchaser may never use them. When that is the case, the insured ends up paying years of premium and never uses the benefits. The ability of companies to get state based rate increases has also lessened the popularity of traditional plans.
Hybrid Policies
Hybrid life and LTC insurance policies offer both product types combined into one policy. Premiums are usually fixed for the life of the policy unlike traditional stand alone LTC plans. Please note; traditional stand alone policies have also been sold with fixed rates that would not increase. Medical underwriting may be less rigorous than it is for a stand-alone LTC policy but usually the difference is fairly small. The big difference is that many hybrid plans do not require a medical exam to get a policy as they use simplified underwriting.
LTC quote site and dedicated sales team
Our quote site allows agents to compare rates and benefits with traditional LTC plans. The site will compare all benefits associated with LTC plans and make side by side company comparisons. As a matter of fact, very few companies offer standard LTC plans at this point. Hybrid and deposit type plans have become more popular, which has quickened the demise of traditional LTC products. The Carrier’s ability to get approvals on state based rate increases for current plans has raised premiums for many in the last 15 years.
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