LTC with Mass Mutual

[billberry12]

True. but....a small company....MedAmerica is a relativly unknown name to the consuming public, somewhat expensive, and the company is not rated as good as others.

If JH, MoO, Genworth, Pru, or some name like that can come up with a simplicty idea, I can see that working.

Actually, If Pru evolution would simply offer maximum $ daily/monthly coverage to choose from, and charge lower premiums accordingly, that would lower the price enough to make it work. That's probably the next move they will make I think.

In the meantime, we deal with all this the best we can. But change has to come at some point.

 

[Arthur Rudnick]

True. but....a small company

They're small compared to the financial giants, but keep in mind that all MedAmerica does is LTCi, so naturally their numbers will not match up with the Prus & Hancocks of the world.

 

[Mr_Ed]

My favorite..evolution?? Are you on crack again?

Cornerstone was an easy product for clients to understand. They seemed to understand dollars rather the days and months and years and service day versus calender day elimination periods etc.. for some reason. It was great for a couple where the man was in super denial. Since he was not going to need it, it would be left for his spouse, but if he was wrong, and used his and hers, she still got 50% back. The first Cornerstone I sold was to a retired University President who had been looking at LTCI for two years, along with TLC, Moneyguard, second to die life polices, with me and who knows how many other financial planners. He had a million $ he was wanted to protect. I finally got him to listen to me tell him how a $1,000,000 shared Cornerstone worked. He told me that made sense to him and wrote me a checkk for about $8,000. That got my attention. I started showing it to wealthey clients who did not like the concept of traditonal LTCI, This guy and his wife were in their seventies, and he totally understood that reserving $1,250,000 for LTC if needed, for only $8000 a year at their ages, made total sense.

Evolution makes sense too. I like everything about it, except the fact that it is overpriced. Therefore, I have never sold one. But i suspect that one of the big players will come up with a new cornersotne/evolution concept priced right that will finally revolutionize this business. Until they do, it's the same old daily/monthly mutilplied by days and years, and confusing to the consumer crap that will keep this market stagnated. People understand, and will buy, dollar protection when presetned to them in a simple, understandable way. The reason Genworth did not sell this product is that their management, and agents could not think outside the box.

I feel some company is going to decide to think outside the box real soon, and change our industry. It's got to happen.

I never understood why agentss were so turned off by the 80/20 concept when almost all traditional LTCI polices sold are for 70-80% of the actual cost of care at the time of sale. People understand co-insuring. They have done it all thier lives with health insurance, and very few can afford, or want to buy 100% LTCI coverage.

great points, Bill.
I couldn't agree more.

nadm

 

[billberry12]

Great minds think alike.

 

[russelltw]

Arthur,
This is why I inserted "has anyone else heard this??" I would like to confirm it with someone else.

Not sure about the tone of the email...sounds a little condesening. Either way, I don't write much LTCi, but what I was trying to say was many companies are leaving this market due to the persistancy of the policies. Unlike some life policies that stay on the book for an average of 7 years, LTC stays. LTC companies are exiting the market, which is proof they are having trouble making a profit, there is no doubt about that. Our original company closed their LTC book of business, then worked out a deal to sell JH.

I was curious if anyone had heard that about JH. I always thought they were one of the big players in this market. A simple yes or no would suffice, not some statement about what I do or don't know.

Several of my coworkers have tried to write LTC with JH lately and the office joke is "if you can run the 40 in under 7 seconds, JH may issue this policy." THe experience in my office has been that UW for JH is much more strict, which makes me wonder why UW is changing.

Thanks

For whatever it's worth...........
You're posting some pretty damaging information regarding Hancock and you admit it's from a third party. Now, if you personally saw the letter, that's one thing. But to publicly post that a major carrier has announced it's closing up shop in 6 months, well, if that was me, I'd want much more proof than a friend of a friend.

Your friend may have been talking about a letter recently sent out regarding Hancock's decision to leave the Group LTC market, which has nothing to do with them leaving the LTCi market entirely.

One more thing....
"I know companies are trying to hold off on LTC policies because people keep them and use them"
For you to make that statement, I have to assume that you know very little about the LTCi market.

 

[Arthur Rudnick]

Just got word from another agent who works for State Farm regarding John Hancock LTC. He said they were sent a
letter that JH would drop 50% of their distribution network by
December and would stop accepting new apps by April of 2012.
I have known this agent for some time, so I don't have a reason to doubt him.

Russell,
Sorry if you were offended by my response, but these were your words, not mine:

"I have known this agent for some time, so I don't have a reason to doubt him"

Again, if this was me, I would not have made a post about any insurer unless I had more information then "a friend of a friend".

And, just for your own information, it's against the rules & regulations of every state's DOI, to make disparaging and, or false remarks about any insurance company. Especially on an open, public forum.

If picked up by Hancock, and they wanted to make a case, you wouldn't have much of a defense.

All I was trying to imply was that for your own protection, you should be careful as to what you post, especially with your name and contact information attached.

 

[2insureyou]

I haven't read all comments here, but as a Northwestern Mutual rep, I am a fan of Mass's LTC product as well. In Indiana, NML does not offer Partnership, but MML does, so when it is appropriate, I will use them as an alternative quality carrier.

That being said, Partnership is oversold. It protects ASSETS, not income streams. It may not be as valuable as some people think it is for every client.

 

[VolAgent]

I haven't read all comments here, but as a Northwestern Mutual rep, I am a fan of Mass's LTC product as well. In Indiana, NML does not offer Partnership, but MML does, so when it is appropriate, I will use them as an alternative quality carrier.

That being said, Partnership is oversold. It protects ASSETS, not income streams. It may not be as valuable as some people think it is for every client.

Isn't NML getting out of LTC, or am I confusing them with Guardian?

 

[Arthur Rudnick]

It's Guardian that's leaving the LTC business by 12/31/11

 

[VolAgent]

It's Guardian that's leaving the LTC business by 12/31/11

Thanks. I wasn't sure which it was.