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I have no clue who she is, what her experience or background is, etc. I am sure she is a very nice person with good intentions.
But after reading that article I would question her "expertise", or at least the intentions of her article. Now I do not claim to be a LTCI expert on the same level that Jack/Arthur/Scott are. They have all been doing it longer and in greater volumes than I. But I do know more than the average agent about LTCI.
If you hold yourself out to be an expert, then you should not make factual errors in your article. (3 day stay/HIPPA 1997)
She also claims that there have been rate increases for policies "in the past few years", yet with Hancock alone rate increases date back to 2003. She says the group market did not see rate increases for over 20 years... but she also fails to mention that the group market has had the highest rate increases in the industry... up to 90%... she also fails to mention that there are only 2 group LTCI providers left because as the companies raised rates they also dropped out of the group market totally.
And after all of the talk about loosing family homes and such to clawbacks from Medicare, she forgets to mention the LTC Partnership programs that have made purchasing a policy an even greater way to protect your assets.
There are some relevant facts in her article. But as someone who has sold LTCI for 8 years now, most of the article seems like she is trying to put lipstick on a pig.
I probably would not have commented at all if she had not tried to pitch the exit of 90% of LTCI carriers as a positive to the industry.... or if she had not tried to pitch group increases as a positive for the industry, when in fact those group increases have been the cause of some of the worst press for LTCI... and after saying its a positive she leaves out the fact that most carriers are completely out of the group market.
If you are an expert you should be factual, not try to spin negatives into positives, and not leave out key facts that would discredit the point you are trying to make. I guess I just did not find it to be a professionally minded article... it seems more like a product pitch than a professional article.
The truth about the LTCI industry is that while there have been a few positive changes here and there, there have been many more negative changes.
But after reading that article I would question her "expertise", or at least the intentions of her article. Now I do not claim to be a LTCI expert on the same level that Jack/Arthur/Scott are. They have all been doing it longer and in greater volumes than I. But I do know more than the average agent about LTCI.
If you hold yourself out to be an expert, then you should not make factual errors in your article. (3 day stay/HIPPA 1997)
She also claims that there have been rate increases for policies "in the past few years", yet with Hancock alone rate increases date back to 2003. She says the group market did not see rate increases for over 20 years... but she also fails to mention that the group market has had the highest rate increases in the industry... up to 90%... she also fails to mention that there are only 2 group LTCI providers left because as the companies raised rates they also dropped out of the group market totally.
And after all of the talk about loosing family homes and such to clawbacks from Medicare, she forgets to mention the LTC Partnership programs that have made purchasing a policy an even greater way to protect your assets.
There are some relevant facts in her article. But as someone who has sold LTCI for 8 years now, most of the article seems like she is trying to put lipstick on a pig.
I probably would not have commented at all if she had not tried to pitch the exit of 90% of LTCI carriers as a positive to the industry.... or if she had not tried to pitch group increases as a positive for the industry, when in fact those group increases have been the cause of some of the worst press for LTCI... and after saying its a positive she leaves out the fact that most carriers are completely out of the group market.
If you are an expert you should be factual, not try to spin negatives into positives, and not leave out key facts that would discredit the point you are trying to make. I guess I just did not find it to be a professionally minded article... it seems more like a product pitch than a professional article.
The truth about the LTCI industry is that while there have been a few positive changes here and there, there have been many more negative changes.
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